Is it possible for a young royal prince to go insane for no apparent reason? Is his world so cold that no one can be trusted? The ones he loved and called friends are used against him. Through his outward insaneness the only thing that kept his inward soul from breaking down was getting revenge for his fathers death. Thus making him a true hero.
Hamlet has gone mad meaning he is insane. Hamlet is not himself. His outward appearance has dwindled from its normal venue. "His garments are unfastened" and "his stockings are dirty" is physical evidence that shows Hamlet is not himself. Ophelia feels that Hamlet's dress is one of someone who has been loosed from hell to speak of horrors. Hamlet's uncharted madness leads Hamlet to tell Ophelia, his dear love, he has never loved her. Hamlet's statement, "Get thee to a nunnery" was very cruel and cold. Hamlets madness doesn't stop with words. Unknowingly he lashes out and kills Polonius hoping that it was King Claudius. This is an irrational action. The shedding of innocent blood with no remorse prove to be enough evidence for insanity. As Polonius lay motionless on the floor , his murderer proves to the queen that he is insane. The ghostly figure appears to Hamlet once again. "Alas, he's mad" are the .
words of a mother who has to face that her beloved son is insane. The irony here is that we know Hamlet is not talking to the walls, but to the ghostly figure, that the queen can't see. "Madness in great one's," the king insists "must not unwatched go."(Shakespeare 135) From this statement, the king derives a plan to use Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Hamlet's old friends, to find the source of Hamlet's insanity. They meet with Hamlet, not out of concern for his well-being, but to report to the king their analyzes of Hamlet. In Hamlet's world no one can be trusted. The ones closest to him are in popular demand to bring him to his death. However, his fate would not allow him to be overcome by a mere effort of a King to get rid of him and his madness.
