The line “to be, or not to be, that is the question” refers to being alive or dead, but can apply to many different conflicts in life and within ourselves (III.i.62). The tragic play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, brings out many of these inner battles of madness with oneself, which can include choosing life or death for oneself and others. The play Hamlet tells the story of a boy, whose father was murdered by Hamlet’s throne seeking uncle, Claudius. Hamlet portrays many examples of madness, but points out the question of whether Hamlet’s and Ophelia’s madness is real or fake.
Throughout the play Hamlet acts as if he mad with revenge for his father’s murder. This play centers on the faith of Christianity, and in Christianity you may only go to heaven if you repent your sins. The past king was not able to go to heaven, because he was killed before he could repent his past sins. Once Hamlet found out what had happened to his father’s soul he felt as though he had to revenge his father’s death by sending his uncle to hell, even if that means sacrificing himself in the process. Hamlet says “I do not set my life in a pin’s fee” which means that he does not value his life (I.iv.71). Between Hamlet’s father being murdered, his uncle committing that murder, and Hamlet not valuing his life, it would make it very easy for him to come up with excuses to pretend to be mad with revenge when he has nothing to lose.
The possibility that Hamlet is faking being mad to have the ability be justified in his actions when he was getting revenge is very plausible. The appearance of madness could help Hamlet achieve his goal of revenge, while making people suffer by making them believe that they are the reason that he is mad. Hamlet shows the audience this a few times, one of which is when he is planning on what to say to his mother after he wrote a scene that is a reenactment of his father being murdered with poison by his uncle.
When planning how he is going to use this conversation to his advantage, he intends to “speak [daggers] to her but use none…my tongue and soul in this be hypocrites” (III.ii.361). When he does this he is saying that he will make his mother feel guilty for marrying his uncle in a short time after his father had passed away, but makes an important point to say he will not physically harm her. Hamlet manipulates his mother into believing that her marriage is a betrayal to his father, and that is the reason he has gone mad. Hamlet does this by saying “…you question [me] with a wicked tongue” (III.iv.12). When he does this he is calling her out for her implications that he is behaving in an evil and crazy manner.
However, Ophelia’s mad scene is real, because is it a combination of madness and grief. You can tell by the way she acts and the fact that she has nothing to gain from pretending to be mad, were Hamlet does. Another way to tell is by what she is saying. She is stricken with grief and that grief forms madness. She doesn’t do this by choice and shows us this when she says “…will he not come again… no, he is dead… his beard was as white as snow… he is gone” about her father (IV.iv.198-205). Unfortunately, this also means that while her madness is justified, the way that she deals with it is irrational. She did lose her father at the hand of the man that she loved, but she decided that she wasn’t even going to try to live for her brother when she drowned herself. This does show that she was mad, but that it was not intentional, because she couldn’t live with the feeling madness.
The tragic play Hamlet portrays two types of madness, madness that can be feigned and madness that cannot be feigned. Hamlet exemplified that madness could be faked and manipulated if one chooses to not care about the damage it does t oneself or others. While Ophelia exemplified that sometimes madness can be a product of a combination of other emotions that cannot be controlled. We can either choose madness or let madness choose us, but once madness gets to us it chooses our fate.
