Although a man given every legitimate reason to assert public revenge for the murder of a brother, father, and king, Hamlet chooses to react non-confrontationally. A device Hamlet uses to avoid direct conversation with those in question around him is a veil of madness. By acting thus to Ophelia and Polonius and later to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, his burden of discourse with the King and Queen is removed because others report in his place. The perfect catalyst for his madness is Ophelia's shuttering of her love, an

Hamlet: No, believe me, 'tis very cold; the wind is northerly.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square Press, 1992.

Johnson, Edgar. The Dilemma of Hamlet. Boston: Cooper Square Publishing, 1964.

Jones, Ernst. The Psycho-Analytical Solution. New York: Doubleday, 1954.

nothing with Hamlet as the next several acts prove. When he finally has enough of inaction, his course is brash and violent, as is the murder of Polonius. As the play draws to a close, Hamlet's actions become fatalistic. He realizes that he must be willing to put his own life in jeopardy in order to fully enact revenge upon Claudius. "There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be (not,) 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it (will) come. The readiness is all. Since no man of aught he leaves knows, what is 't to leave betimes? Let be," (5.2.233-36). Hamlet is suddenly willing to take ill weighed chances, such as the fencing match with Laertes, against his better judgment. The most clear example of compulsion comes in the last scene where in attempts to make up for lost time and fervor, Hamlet kills Claudius not once by "venomed point", but twice, by cup as well. "Here, thou incestuous, (murd'rous,) damned Dane, drink off this potion. Is (thy union)here? Follow my mother," (5.2.356-58). "Hamlet attempts to reclaim what honor he has remaining when he realizes the folly of his elaborate delay. He is thus compulsive, not by nature but by necessity, to act and act swiftly," (Hapgood 342).

Although the content of the discourse is meaningless in fact, the tone exemplifies Hamlet's ability to twist reality and approach it indirectly and enigmatically.

d so she is the first to encounter his madness. "Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced...and with a look so piteous in purport as if he has been loosed out of hell to speak of horrors---he comes before me," relays Ophelia to her father (Shakespeare 2.1.lines 88, 92-94). Upon hearing his daughter's confession, Polonius declares: "I will go seek the King...(you) hath made him mad," (113, 123). And to the King he reports, "I have found the very cause of Hamlet's lunacy," which of course he claims is the lost love from his daughter (2.2.51-52). Similarly Hamlet feigns madness for the daft duo of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern who report their meager findings to the King. As further proof of his unwillingness to confront the guilty parties, Hamlet asks the players to perform The Murder of Gonzogo which mirrors the dark plots in Denmark. Additionally, he composes 12 li

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Approximate Word count = 1785
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)