Part 1 of Essay
Hamlet tells Horatio that he is going to "feign madness," and that if Horatio notices any strange behaviour from Hamlet, it is because he is putting on an act. [Act i, Scene v, lines 166-180] Hamlet's madness only manifests itself when he is in the presence of certain characters. When Hamlet is around Polonius, Claudius, G ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... Hamlet believes in his sanity at all times. He never doubts his control over psyche. Hamlet's Sanity Supported Through His Relation to Ophelia and Edgar's Relation to Lear In both Hamlet and King Lear, Shakespeare incorporates a theme of madness with two characters: one truly mad, and one only acting mad to serve a motive. The madness of Hamlet is frequently disputed. This paper argues that the contrapuntal character in each play, namely Ophelia in Hamlet and Edgar in King Lear, acts as a balancing argument to t ....