Answered By Jesse N

In truth, either perspective is valid. It's really about what side of the argument you choose to support and the evidence you use to support it. For example, if you were to argue that Hamlet was crazy you could point to his behavior of jumping into Ophelia's grave at her funeral in act 5 scene 1. You could point to his monologue in Act 3 Scene 1 in which he muses about suicude, which is hardly a mentally healthy contemplation. Or you could point to the fact that if his crazy behavior was all some elaborate ruse on Hamlet's part, then how would this help him to expose or defeat the king? If anything, an insanity act would cost him his credibility when he finally did kill the king. Nobody would believe that he was visited by his father's ghost, and nobody would be able to see that his cause was just.

Alternatively, if you were to argue in favor of his sanity then you must argue why his behavior makes sense. You could argue that the behavior he exhibits is actually rather understandable given the extreme duress he has been placed under. First his father died, which is hard for anybody to experience as a loss. Then he sees his father's ghost, which would leave anybody shaken to their core. Finally, he then discovers that his uncle was responsible for his father's death from the ghost of his dead father, who is trapped in purgatory because his soul was not purified through prayers for forgiveness at the time of his death. How would any normal person act after discovering their uncle usurped their father's throne, and that their father is suffering eternal damnation as a result?

You could even go further than explaining his behavior as a result of stress and say that his acting out in insanity is intentional. Perhaps he has recognized that his quest to avenge his father's death would likely cost him his life, which is why he seems to be pushing Ophelia away. Rozencrants and Guildenstern were Hamlet's friends, but he quickly realized that they were talking to him as a favor to the king and queen and weren't actually there for him, hence why he gave them the crazy act and pushed them away as well. Perhaps he acted unpredictably to make the king afraid of him. There are many directions you could go with this, but these are just a few examples.

I know a lot of people think English classes suck, because you have to do all of this thinking and the answers aren't necessarily obvious. But remember, whatever position you choose to take is a valid one as long as you support your argument well. Really, the answer can be whatever you want it to be as long as you can point to solid evidence that supports your case.