His father had not been dead for even two months, not long enough to feel the wind of heaven. ... Hamlet begins to ponder the reason that his mother had gone unto Claudius. ... The idea of his mother having a sexual relationship with his uncle repulses Hamlet. ... With this soliloquy, Shakespeare has set Hamlet as this fated protagonist. ... O, most wicked speed, to post With such dexterity to incestuous sheets! ...
The tragic character puts on an act after he is told of his father's murder, perhaps to have something on which he can place the blame after he avenges his father's death, or perhaps it is to capture the attention of certain characters so that he may find out exactly what has gone "rotten in Denmark." ... Later, as Hamlet is speaking to Guildenstern, he makes the analogy that he is "but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw" (Act II, scene II, lines 408-410), again indicating that he is only shamming insanity. ... Hamlet is putting on an act, a...
It is difficult to determine when a person has gone from simply acting on impulse and not thinking rationally to truly becoming "mad." ... Hamlet thought highly of his father, as a king and as a man, better than Claudius "so excellent a king; that was, to this / Hyperion to a Satyr; so loving to my mother / That he might not beteem the winds of heaven / Visit her face too roughly" (1. 2. 139-142). ... Hamlet cannot believe that his mother could so quickly fall in love with Claudius when she seemed so in love with Hamlet Senior as well. ... After Hamlet kills her father, Ophelia really loses t...
"I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw." ... With his statement Hamlet is revealing that he is precisely planning when to be insane and grief stricken. ... Guildenstern and Rosencrantz both also believe that Hamlet has gone insane. ... While many are convinced that Hamlet has gone completely insane, Claudius, Polonius, and Gertrude are very suspicious of Hamlet and are not entirely convinced. ... After a conversation with Hamlet Polonius comments, "Though this be madness, yet there is method in"t..." ...
