A reoccurring plot through out Hamlet is Hamlet's intensifying madness. Hamlet is emotional and depressed because of his father's death and his mother's apparent betrayal by marrying Hamlet's Uncle. While Hamlet is nearly middle-aged, he acts like a troubled teen through out the play. He goes on tangents and is seriously depressed. He curses his mother because her new marriage is disgusting to him. His mother betrayed him by marrying his father's brother soon after the King's death.
Hamlet leaps from depressed and emotional to possibly crazy after he "sees" his father's ghost. He speaks in ways that don;t make sense, but is being critical of everyone around him. He pursues Ophelia, but goes behind her father's back, and sneaks to her room one night, frightening her. Hardly the way a normal guy would try and date a girl! Hamlet is the only that can see the ghost while in the closet with his mother, which leads us to believe more in his insanity. However, Hamlet himself implies that his crazy rants are just acting, and that he has another motive for acting the way he does. While he is confusing with his words, Hamlet is always making a point to the person he is talking to. He questions them using round about ways, but is successful in doing so because he gets his point across.
While Hamlet feigns madness while speaking with others, his actions can be construed as mad. While Hamlet is acting crazy, he is also dealing with the loss of his father and the betrayal of his mother. Under this emotional stress, Hamlet begins to slip from faking madness to acting truly mad, killing Polonius which does not prove his sanity to those around him. Hamlet starts to slip deeper and deeper into madness, but continues to critique the world around him showing us that he may still have some sanity driving his speech and actions.
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