There is a fine line between genius and madness. Kay Redfield Jamison discusses this in her book Touched by Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament. Great ones often straddle the line and at times are or at least appear mad. It is clear that Hamlet is intelligent and perceptive while at same time suffering from melancholy through most of the play. We have no idea what Hamlet's relationship is with Gertrude and/or Hamlet Sr. before the play begins. We do know that the death of Hamlet's father and his mother's marrying of Claudius are deeply troubling to this young man. Jamison describes Shakespeare's portrayal of Hamlet as being "weary and melancholic bleeding out of hope, color, beauty and belief" (20). She references Hamlet speaking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern:.
I have of late - but wherefore I know not - lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave overhanging firmament, this majestically roof fretted with golden fire - why, it appeareth no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors. (II.ii.307-317).
Yet Hamlet goes far beyond melancholy and the purpose of this paper is to discuss Hamlet's madness.
Madness or insanity is part of a mental health continuum. At what point does society classify one as sane or mad varies depending on circumstance. A clear demarcation between sanity and insanity does not exist. The dictionary definition of insanity speaks to the inability to understand the consequences of one's action or the inability to sign legal documents because of an unsound mind. Severe depression is judged as an unsound mind. Hamlet exhibits many diagnostic symptoms of being in a major episode of depression, the first of which is the depressed mood itself.