ed author , has “no doubt that the hero’s ‘madness’…was merely ‘pretended’”(Neill, 309). After the Ghost’s first appearance to Hamlet, Hamlet decides that when he finds it suitable or advantageous to him, he will put on a mask of madness so to speak. He confides to Horatio that when he finds the occasion appropriate, he will “put an antic disposition on” (1.5.172). Mark Van Doren poins out in his book “Shakespeare,” that Hamlet’s “antic disposition” is used “as a device for seeming mad” (162). This strategy gives Hamlet a chance to find proof of Claudius’ guilt and to contemplate his revenge tactic. Although he has sworn to avenge his father’s murder, he is not sure of the Ghost’s origins: “The spirit that I have seen / May be the devil” (2.2.541-2). He uses his apparent madness as a delaying tactic to buy time in which to discover whether the Ghost’s tale of murder is true and to decide how to handle the situation. At the same time, he wants to appear unthreatening and harmless so that people will divulge information to him, much in the same way that an adult will talk about an important secret in the presence of a young child. To convince everyone of his madness, Hamlet spends many hours walking back and forth alone in the lobby, speaking those “wild and whirling words” which make little sense on the surface but in fact carry a meaningful subtext. When asked if he recognizes Polonius, Hamlet promptly replies, “Excellent well; you are a fishmonger” (2.2.173). Although the response seems crazy since a fish-seller would look completely unlike the expensively dressed lord Polonius, Hamlet is actually criticizing Polonius for his management of Ophelia, since “fishmonger” is Elizabethan slang for “pimp.” He plays mind-games with Polonius, getting him in crazy talk to agree first that a cloud looks like a camel, then a weasel and finally a whale, and in a very sane aside, he then comments that “They fool me to the top of my bent” (3.2.337-8). Although he appears to have lost touch with reality, he keeps reminding us that he is not at all “far gone, far gone” (2.2.186) as Polonius claims, but is in fact very much in command of himself and the situation. With his rantings and ravings and his seemingly useless pacing of the lobby, Hamlet manages to appear quite mad. The naïve and trusting Ophelia believes in and is devastated by what she sees as his downfall: O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown! …………………………… Th; expectancy and rose of the fair state …………………………… Th’ observ’d of all observers, quite, quite down!” (3.1.142-6). Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are also fully convinced. They

Some topics in this essay:
Rosencrantz Guildenstern, Polonius Hamlet, Claudius Hamlet’s, Van Doren, , Ophelia Hamlet, Wherein I’ll, Friendly Shakespeare”, Gertrude Polonius, Approach Shakespeare”, rosencrantz guildenstern, “antic disposition”, polonius hamlet, “wild whirling words”, confidences horatio, lost touch, hamlet sane, hamlet manages, rejected love, theory rejected, avenge father’s murder, theory rejected love, hamlet’s sanity,