Hamlet: Hamlet's Greatest Crime Was His Inherent Goodness

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Shakespeare leads you to believe that the main character, Hamlet, might be insane. There are many clues to suggest Hamlet is insane but in fact he is completely sane.
Throughout the play Hamlet makes wise decisions to prove his so-called “madness” to others when obviously it is merely an act. He knows exactly what he is leading up to. He just delays to act due to his indecisiveness or inaction. An example of this is when Hamlet says “Now might I do it pat, now ’a is a-praying;/ And now I’ll do’t. And so ‘a/ goes to heaven,/ And so am I revenged that would be scanned:/ A villain kills my father, and for that,/ I, his sole son, do this same villain send/ To heaven./ Why, this is hire and salary, not revenge.” (III.iii.73). This very scene illustrates Hamlet’s tragic flaw: indecision. He has the perfect opportunity to kill the newly King yet holds himself back from doing what he set out to do. His reason was that by killing him while he’s praying, his soul goes to heaven and this ...

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for his inexplicable and rash behaviors. Hamlet pretends not to know who Polonius is, even though he is Ophelia’s father. After Polonious talks with Hamlet he explains to the King the cause of Hamlet’s crude actions: “Fell into a sadness, then into a fast,/ Thence to a watch, thence into a weakness,/ Thence to a lightness, and by this declension/ Into a madness wherein now he raves/ And we all mourn” (II.ii.147-150). When Hamlet is around Horatio, Bernardo, Fransisco, the players and the Gravediggers, he behaves rationally. In Act II, section II, lines, 378-379, Hamlet says: “I am but mad north-north-west. When the/ wind is southernly I know a hawk from a handsaw.” He is letting ...

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