Madness is clearly the central them in Shakespeare's Hamlet Prince of Denmark,.

             yet most interpretations of the expressions of madness within the work, by Hamlet are that they are contrived to hide his revenge plot upon his uncle the king. (Shakespeare 1274) While Yet another interpretation of hamlets feigned madness is that of a stalling technique, used to allow himself time to make a very personal decision to either avenge his father's death or pursue his own life and move on without his birthright, the throne, In fact, on one level, Hamlet's delay can be explained as his exploitation of the.

             revenge task as an excuse to escape himself through the ploy of false madness which, as we have seen, he explicitly associates with flight from self. In this context, Hamlet's defining alternatives are to think in order not to be himself or to think in order to fulfill his identity." (Levy) .

             Yet, interpretations of the facts of the work are many, as they are with all works of great standing and according to one expert the greatest questions of the work are far more extreme: "A host of deeper questions arise. Among the most celebrated are: what is the reason for the Prince's delay in revenging his father's murder; is his madness genuine or feigned; what is the true status of his feelings for Ophelia?" (Croxford) .

             The play begins with a foreshadowing of the events to follow, as Hamlet meets his father's ghost his companions warn him of the danger of the ghost drawing Hamlet into madness. Losing ones ability to rule with reason over emotion, Hamlet is threatened by providence, when he meets his father's apparition upon the tower.

             For the sentries, this apprehension is heightened by the entrances of the Ghost--a figure whom Horatio eventually associates with a threat to the "sovereignty of reason" (1.4.73). In the immediate context, loss of the "sovereignty of reason" entails "madness" (1.4.74).