Madness vs antic disposition

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### Hamlet

*Act 3 scene 4*

@@"this is not madness"@@

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* Polonius’s death was as a consequence of Hamlet’s antic disposition → "this is not madness"
* Puts on an antic disposition →  @@"you are a fishmonger"@@  to Polonius 
* too comical and clever to be genuinely mad
* even Polonius notes @@"how pregnant sometimes his replies are''.@@
* Hamlet ‘turns on’ his antic disposition with such ease → it is not real or least exaggerated

### Hamlet

@@There's method in my madness@@

Although not truly mad, Hamlet quite clearly puts on his madness and states that there is method in what he is doing.

### Hamlet

@@"\[...\] The spirit that I have seen \n May be the devil, and the devil hath power"@@

The Ghost of Hamlet's father always seems to be associated with Hamlet's is-he-or-isn't-he insanity. Here Hamlet is quite clearly questioning whether or not the ghost is 'the devil'. It seems that Hamlet is blaming the ghost for his temporary and fake madness.

### Hamlet

*Act 3 scene 1*

@@"this is not madness"@@

* Hamlet’s ‘crafty madness’ enables him to pursue revenge and comment satirically on the corruption of the court; Ophelia’s real madness is the consequence of grief.

### Horatio

*Act 1 Scene 4*

There assume some other horrible form,/Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason/And draw you into madness?

* Verb "assume" suggests uncertainty and doubt - he is worried that the Ghost may eventually turn
* Hamlet to madness - foreshadowing.
* Verb "deprive" suggests torture, connotations of loss of sanity - foreshadowing further events.
* Could provoke Hamlet's antic disposition. Verb "draw" suggests an unwillingness.

### Horatio

*Act 1 Scene 5*

@@These are wild and whirling words my lord.@@

* Alliteration of elongated 'w' sounds Horatio's feelings of how Hamlet's plan is ridiculous and doesn't fully believe him.
* Also, stresses his uncertainty and caution around the subject. \n
* Use of the phrase "my lord" accentuates Horatio's loyalty and trust in Hamlet despite his doubts about his actions.
* Emphasises Horatio's position as voice of reason and foreshadows the plot and Hamlet's constant inaction
* Syndetic listing elongates the phrase emphasising Horatio's lack of conviction in Hamlet's plan →

### AO5

*Critic*

Debate on antic disposition, Johnson, *modern →*

* Hamlet's madness is **"clearly feigned"**. 

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### AO5

*Critic*

De-yan 2009 → Hamlet and masculinity

Hamlet who has an idealistic view of man and a meditative temperament is ashamed of the death of masculinity in his character especially compared to the other men around him

### AO5

*Critic*

Samuel Johnson → 18th century

“of feigned madness of Hamlet there appears no adequate cause for he does nothing of which he might not have done with the reputation of sanity

### AO5

*Viewpoint*

Oedipal complex → Freud/ Ernest Jones 19th century

Oedipal complex → infantile desires for mother takes up most of his thoughts and leads to innaction

### AO5

*Viewpoint*

Renaissance

concerned with madness

Portrayed more violently dramatised melancholy and insanity regarding the ghost