Hamlet

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his madness is assumed. After the Ghost's first appearance to , 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" (I.v.172). This Pg. 2 strategy gives a chance to find proof of Claudius' guilt. 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" (II.ii.610-11). 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, spends many hours walking back and forth alone in the ...

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are also fully convinced. They are 's equals in age but are far inferior in intellect and therefore don't understand that he is faking. However, although manages to convince these simple friends and Ophelia of his insanity, other characters in the play such as Claudius, Gertrude and even Polonius eventually see through his behavior. Claudius is constantly on his guard because of his guilty conscience and he therefore recognizes that is faking. The king is suspicious of from the very beginning. The reason Claudius is so reluctant to believe that Ophelia's rejection has caused 's lunacy is that he doesn't believe in his madness at all. staged the play to learn the truth about ...

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