wit, so at first glance it might seem as if he put on an extravagant show for Ophelia, knowing she would alarm her father and he in turn the King. However, the description of Hamlet looking as if he had come straight out of hell with his face paled and knees shaking, suggests a truly wary man teetering on the edge of madness. Regardless of Hamlet's true mental state, his behavior forced Ophelia to turn to her father and disregard her prior comments about Hamlet's honorable intentions; instead condemning him a mad man.The query into Hamlet's madness raises too many other unanswerable questions; however, the effects of his odd behavior are clearly visible. After Ophelia relates her tale to her father, Polonius, he immediately becomes wary of Hamlet and promptly reports all new information to the King. Polonius and King Claudius, in Act II Scene II, plot to set up a chance meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia in the lobby of the palace, in order to monitor Hamlet's behavior. The madness they perceived in Hamlet, from Ophelia's description, led them to spy on him. After Hamlet's meeting with Ophelia, the King becomes unsure of Hamlet's sanity. He notes that although Hamlet's words do have something beneath the surface attached to them, it did not sound like madness. "Now what he spake, though it lacked form a little, was not like madness. There's something in his soul O'er which his melancholy sits on brood, And I do doubt the hatch and the disclose Will be some danger; which for to prevent" (Shakespeare 47). This causes Claudius to become even more suspicious of Hamlet and more concerned with what he might do next as he attempts to revenge his father's murder; saying, "Madness in great ones must not unwatched go" (Shakespeare 48). Claudius becomes concerned with Hamlet's actions because if Hamlet is in fact mad, Claudius knows he must be extremely cautious of Hamlet's irrational behavior. If Hamlet is, however, only feigning ma...
