In Shakespear´s "Hamlet", the character of Prince Hamlet pretends to be insane. For a person in his situation, having almost everyone thinking that you are crazy can be an advantage. The king, his father, had died, and just a few weeks after his tragic loss, a ghost appears to Hamlet. This ghost has the appearance of his father. The spirit tells Hamlet that he did not die peacefully, but instead his brother, Claudius, murdered him by pouring venom into his ear. Claudius usurped the throne and also married his brother´s wife, Gertrude. Hamlet swears to his father´s spirit that he is going to avenge his death, and he would commit this by acting insanity. There are actions in the play that would be almost impossible to achieve if Hamlet did not act like a mentally unstable person.

The clues that we can find in this tragedy helps proving that Hamlet´s sanity is the motive behind his simulated madness. The first reason Hamlet has to make everyone think he had gone mad is to accomplish the freedom he gains because of this. Societies have taboos and social norms that people must follow to be accepted. However, there are some exceptions, like the mentally unstable or the insane, so Hamlet realizes that being crazy would …show more content…
Hamlet runs out of the forest and, after making Horatio swear never to talk about what he had seen, tells him not worry in the coming weeks. Hamlet tells Horatio that even though he may see Hamlet acting strangely, and seemingly ill in the mind, Horatio should not worry about Hamlet, saying "As I perchance hereafter shall think meet to put an antic disposition on..." (lines 191-192, Act 1, Scene 5). That is to say that soon, Hamlet will purposely act strangely, and therefore Horatio should not worry. This quote alone would suffice as proof that Hamlet is not crazy, but rather, he is admittedly acting oddly to throw people off