Saneness versus Insanity
...e that was just completely mad. The character that I believe to be sane is Hamlet. He may have acted crazy at times, one example of that is after Polonius’s death. But there are indications though, that persuade me to think otherwise. Hamlet did have his reasons to act insane at this point in the story. He had finally figured out that Claudius really had killed his father and he even had the chance to kill Claudius himself, but he holds off. He then accidentally kills Polonius, having thought it was the King, and then he sees the ghost of his father once again. These circumstances are enough to make Hamlet crazy, but he still remains sharp and intelligent. Hamlet makes comments to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern saying that they are “sponges”, because they are soaking up the king’s favors, only to become dry again after they have to clean up the King’s mess he had made. This may make Hamlet look very weird and random for saying this, but the truth of that matter is that this comparison is quite true. Later in the story, Hamlet makes more comments about King Claudius, which also proves to make a lot of sense. Hamlet and Ophelia both share the trait of having premeditated thoughts, such as his verbal attacks and her singing. They also show that they are both very calm before their deaths. But Hamlet wasn’t the one that was yelling crazy remarks to people before he died, like that of Ophelia. He was the exact opposite, calm and collected, proving that he wasn’t mad like Ophelia had been. He even reasoned whether life was truly worth living for. All these examples lead me to the belief that Hamlet was truly sane. King Claudius o...