Hamlet also weighs the pros and cons of suicide. Preparing for the worst actions to follow his suicide; eternal damnation, or eternal sleep; Hamlet votes against his death. These two situations help to show the great problem facing Hamlet; his mind. Any normal man would not hesitate in the movement towards revenge. They would also not question the attributes behind it. But Hamlet is a thinker not a doer. It poses a problem for a man of such profound thought to take such a hasty and unreasoned action such as revenge. The questioning attitude of Hamlet adds to his procrastination. Many believed that Hamlet was merely a man who went mad due to his father’s unlawful death and his mother’s hasty marriage. These critics look to soliloquies and Hamlet’s seemingly mad conversations as proof of his insanity. But if one were to observe and analyze these passages, they would see that truth and sanity behind them. But the sanity is only a small part. For these passages hold great and profound thought. There are many situations in which Hamlet’s thoughts are profound. These are not the ponderies of a man gone mad, but of a brain contained within a prison. Of a man whose intellect is holding him back. The first occasion in which Hamlet’s words, perceived mad, proved to be profound, was with his encounter with Polonius. Polonius, trying to keenly pry from Hamlet his ailment, strikes up a seemingly innocent conversation with Hamlet. To test his madness, Polonius asks Hamlet if he knows Polonius. when Hamlet replies wittingly, Polonius is assured that it was the talk of a mad man. “Do you know me, my Lord? . . . excellent well. You are a fishmonger . . .”(II.II. 173-4) For in the ordinary sense “it is . . . Polonius . . . breed . . .” A fishmonger being a honest tradesman would prove mad for Hamlet to say to Polonius. But in the sense related above, it makes perfect sense. Besides making perfect sen...
