Madness and Sanity in Hamlet

William Shakespeare is one of the greatest playwrights of all time. His writing is famous still today. One of his greatest works is a very controversal, yet intelectually-stimulating play entitled Hamlet. This play is about a prince (Hamlet) whose father, who was king, was killed by his uncle, Claudius, who then took the throne. To complicate the situation further, his mother, Gertrude, married Claudius shortly after the death of his father. His father comes back …

…carried it out to a heightened extent as to make people see it and help him with his plot to get revenge. So, while a hidden madness truly existed, I think the "antic disposition" was just that- a disposition. He faked madness in his right mind to get revenge, and though he lost his life and caused a few other wrongful deaths, including his mother, Polonius, and Laertes, he none the less achieved his goal.