enge, successfully. The forged madness was a product of Hamlet’s attempt to confuse the people of the castle and divert any suspicion that may be targeted at him in his mission of vindication of his father’s death. But what exactly is madness? In Act I, Scene 5, Hamlet urges the ghost: “Haste me to know’t, that I with wings as swift as the meditation or the thoughts of love may sweep to my revenge.” (lns. 33-35) Madness is condition that results from a person’s obsession with his objective. This total preoccupation with a specific mission blurs the person’s reality. It’s as though the victim has become inhabited by himself and some other supernatural power that takes over his senses and narrows his field of vision, limiting it to his objective, mission, and purpose. All other aspects of his life degenerate into chess pieces in the greater game. His mission consumes him, devouring his life and leaving him an uncomplete person. Rages, unwarranted erratic behavior, and evil-doing are symptomatic such a state of being. Much of Hamlet’s madness, when feigned, was due to necessity, however, he definitely had a natural inclination towards pretense and dissimulation. To limit the word natural to ‘part of one’s nature,’ meaning inherent and innate, is close-minded. With a broader meaning of the term, it becomes easier to explain Hamlet. By “natural,” I mean unfaked, sincere, genuine. Therefore, a natural inclination is not necessarily congenital since it can be developed. Simulating madness, although it was for a good cause, ruined Hamlet. After acting deranged for an extensive period, he became mad. When acting mad for long enough, an inclination develops for dishonesty, dissimulation, and deception. In an ironic sense, Hamlet contaminated himself. He

Some topics in this essay:
Act Scene, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, IViii20-26 Finally, III Scene, Polonius Hamlet, Rosencrantz Guildenstern, Claudius IIIiv27, natural inclination, father’s death, avenge father’s death, pretense dissimulation, hamlet indeed, feigned madness, inner madness, madness ultimately, shakespeare’s hamlet, avenge father’s, scene hamlet,