dness this forces Claudius to become even more concerned. In this case Hamlet's motivations would be guided by revenge, meaning they would have a purpose and direction. If Hamlet is truly mad then his actions would not follow and order or reason and therefore would not be as threatening to the King; but either way, both King Claudius and Polonius, until his demise, are forced to devote much of their attention to dealing with Hamlet.Charlotte Lennox, in one respect, believes that the question over hamlet's sanity is irrelevant to the story. She does, however, go on to say that the only importance of Hamlet's madness is that it throws the other characters into alarm over his motivations and whether he is truly mad or not."For Hamlet's madness alarms the King's Suspicions, and that produces the treacherous Embassy to England, which failing, the Contrivance of the poisoned Rapier followed, and that does the business" (Lennox 129).The treacherous embassy is of course Rosencrantz and Guilderstern, who had heard of Hamlets madness and made their assistance readily available to the King. The King asks them to go to England and put an end to Hamlet's mad brain. R and G reply(with G speaking), We will ourselves provide, most holy and religious fear it is to keep those many many bodies safe That live and feed upon your majesty (Shakespeare 58).Hamlet, however, discovers their treachery and has them disposed of; then, King Claudius sets up a fight between Laertes and Hamlet by convincing Laertes that he should avenge Polonius', his father, murder. The King covers Laertes' sword with poison and even put poison in Hamlet's goblet.Hamlet's mad behavior sets off a train of events where the King and his followers become more and more suspicious of Hamlet and eventually take action against him. Samuel Traylor Coleridge says that Hamlet's displays an internal struggle by attempting to feign madness while at the same time struggling to maintain sanity...
