n’t sing a mourning song at the beginning, but rather a happy love song. Ophelia’s breakdown into madness and inability to deal with her father’s death and Hamlet’s rejection is dealt with neatly and punctually. There is little evidence against her madness, compared to Hamlet’s intelligent plotting and use of witnesses to his actions. Thus, by defining true madness in Ophelia, Shakespeare subtracts from the plausibility of Hamlet’s supposed insanity. In the play, Shakespeare uses the dimmer light of reality to expose the brighter light of contrivance. Hamlet is dynamic, animated, and absurd in his madness, making Ophelia’s true madness seem realistic rather than absurd. Hamlet explicitly states the contrivance of his madness, while Ophelia does not. To prove more of Hamlet’s sanity, he questions his actions. “To be or not to be” proves that Hamlet still thinks before he performs his actions. Further, Hamlet has a motive behind leading others to believe that he is insane. Although Hamlet is under severe pressure and emotional strain due to the high situation in the play, he shows a remarkable amount of intelligent, conscious, and rational decision-making in efforts to resolve his situation. Thus we can see that Hamlet is not insane, but actually does have a method and can make intelligent decisions. ...
