Whether or not Hamlet was sane depends on the definition of insanity. In Hamlets case he may have been a hypochondriac and caused his own illness. Hamlet's actions may also have been just an act, which would prove him not to be insane. In solitude Hamlet acts perfectly normal yet in public he acts deranged. Furthermore, sanity can be described as how the authorities view you. As for Hamlet's time, and the present alike, this rule applies. If they see you as "insane" then you are. Hamlet's word would not matter in his case.
Hamlet's has only two cases, which would prove insanity. One is from the viewpoint of those he is trying to fool. This action seems contradictory to Hamlet's beliefs because he is upset when Guildenstern and Rosenchrantz try to fool him. He accuses them of trying to play him like they would play a recorder yet he turns around and does it to them. Not only does he play Guildenstern and Rosenchrantz but also he manipulates madness towards Ophelia to give the impression of insanity to Claudius and Polonius. Hamlet appears to these people as insane according to Roget's International Thesaurus, which states insanity in the verb sense as, " rave, dote, ramble, wander." There is no doubt that with all of the events that have occurred that Hamlet would be a little off, thus, defining him as insane yet clinically would not be defined as insane. ADD QUOTES OF INSANITY .
The facts seem to prove that Hamlet is actually sane despite the way he acts in public. You would believe that a person who is insane would act that way at all times. Hamlet tells his mother in the closet scene FIND ACT AND SCENE, "I am essentially not in madness but mad in craft." This proves that Hamlet is well aware of his actions at all times. In the first act, scene five, Hamlet tells Horatio that he should not think that he is insane just because he acts insane and that he must never let anyone know that his madness is just feign.
