Is Hamlet Mad?

yes he is mad:

- he says "it hath made me mad", could be realizing that he really is insane

- he continues to yell at his mother, even when she admits she's in the wrong, and asks him to stop

- Hamlet says that there is "a king of fighting that would not let mesleep" in his heart

- even his own mother believes at first that he's crazy

- Ophelia believes that he's crazy

- he has a lot of stress, has to deal with his mother's adultery, his father's murder

- In Act III sc. i, Hamlet meets with Ophelia and begins acting mad, he insults her and makes sexual comments

- at first he trusted the ghost, but then he starts to become paranoid and thinks that the ghost is not really his father

- in Act II sc. i, Hamlet approaches Ophelia in a mad way- a sane man would not enter a woman's private closet with no hat on and his garment unfastened

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no, he isn't mad:

- tells his mother that he is not crazy, asks her to keep it a secret

- says that he is just putting on an "antic disposition"

- Hamlet always thinks things through, a madman would just act on impulse

- He is very intuitive throughout the play, thinks logically

- plays Polonius for a fool

- killed Polonius because he logically believed that only Claudius would be in Gertrude's closet

- he is behaving normally when he first meets with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Act II sc. ii, but as soon as he realizes that they were sent for, he puts on his antic dispostion so he won't give himself away

- he insults Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Polonius, and Claudius in a clever way

- thinking things through clearly when he doesnt' kill Claudius when he's praying

 

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