Hamlet’s State of Mind Graphic Organizer
Hamlet’s thoughts, actions or
words
Character’s description of Hamlet
“And there assume some other
horrible form, Which might deprive
your sovereignty of reason And
draw you into madness?”
“These are but wild and whirling
words, my lord.”
“Here, as before, never, so help you
mercy, How strange or odd some’er
I bear myself (As I perchance
hereafter shall think meet To put
an antic disposition on)”
Act/Scene/line
Act I, scene iv
lines 80-82
Mad
Act I, scene v
line 148
Mad
Act I, scene v
lines 189-192
“My lord, as I was sewing in my
closet, Lord Hamlet, with his
doublet all unbraced; No hat upon
his head; his stockings foul'd,
Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his
ancle; Pale as his shirt; his knees
knocking each other; And with a
look so piteous in purport As if
he had been loosed out of hell To
speak of horrors”
Mad or “mad in craft”
Act II, scene i
lines 87-96
Reasons and evidence
Horatio warns Hamlet of the
possibility that the ghost is an evil
spirit posing as his father. It may
take another form and cause him to
lose his mind.
Horatio indicates that Hamlet is
talking in an erratically after his
meeting with the ghost.
Mad in craft
Hamlet is telling Horatio that he
thinks it necessary to act in a
strange manner from now on and
not to tell anyone.
Mad
Ophelia tells her father that Hamlet
came to her room. His appearance
was shocking and very unlike the
young prince.
Grade 12: Hamlet
“Mad for they love?”
“He took me by the wrist and held
me hard; Then goes he to the
length of all his arm; And, with his
other hand thus o'er his brow, He
falls to such perusal of my face
As he would draw it. Long stay'd
he so; At last, a little shaking of
mine arm And thrice his head
thus waving up and down, He
raised a sigh so piteous and
profound As it did seem to
shatter all his bulk And end his
being: that done, he lets me go:
And, with his head over his
shoulder turn'd, He seem'd to find
his way without his eyes; For out
o' doors he went without their
helps, And, to the last, bended
their light on me.”
“​
Something have you heard Of
Hamlet's transformation; so call it,
Sith nor the exterior nor the
inward man Resembles that it
was.”
Act II, scene i
line 95
Act II, scene i
lines 99-112
Act II, scene ii
lines 4-5
Mad
Polonius suggests that Hamlet is
mad over his rejected love for
Ophelia.
Mad
Ophelia further describes Hamlet’s
strange behavior as he grabs her
wrists and stares at her. He lets
out a great sigh, but says nothing.
He leaves the room staring at her
face.
Mad
Claudius tells Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern about the changes in
Hamlet before asking them to find
out what is wrong with him.
Grade 12: Hamlet
I have of late--but wherefore I
know not--lost all my mirth, forgone
all custom of exercises; and indeed
it goes so heavily with my
disposition that this goodly frame,
the earth, seems to me a sterile
promontory, this most excellent
canopy, the air, look you, this brave
o'erhanging firmament, this
majestical roof fretted with golden
fire, why, it appears no other thing
to me than a foul and pestilent
congregation of vapours.”
“your noble son is mad: Mad call I
it; for, to define true madness,
What is't but to be nothing else
but mad?”
Act II, scene ii
lines 99-101
Mad
“Though this be madness, yet
there is method in 't.”
Act II, scene ii
lines 223-224
Mad in craft
Still harping on my daughter: yet
he knew me not at first; he said I
was a fishmonger: he is far gone,
far gone: and truly in my youth I
suffered much extremity for love;
very near this.”
Act II, scene ii
lines 204-208
Mad
Polonius concludes that Hamlet is
madly in love with Ophelia.
Mad in craft
Hamlet describes his own state of
mind to his two friends who are
spying on him. Since he is aware of
what they are doing, he just tells
them what he wants them to know.
This thinking shows that he is still
plotting.
Act II, scene ii
lines 318-326
Polonius declares that Hamlet is
mad to Gertrude and Claudius
before he explains what he thinks is
the reason.
Polonius questions Hamlet, but he
recognizes meaning in what Hamlet
says. He is not just a raving lunatic;
he is witty and aware.
Grade 12: Hamlet
“I am but mad north-north-west:
when the wind is southerly I know
a hawk from a handsaw.”
Act II, scene ii
lines 402-403
Mad in craft
“I’ll have grounds More relative than
this. The play’s the thing Wherein I’ll
catch the conscience of the King.”
Act II, scene ii
lines 633-634
Mad in craft
ROS: To sum up: your father,
whom you love, dies, you are his
heir, you come back to find that
hardly was the corpse cold
before his young brother popped
on to his throne and into his
sheets, thereby offending both
legal and natural practice. Now,
why exactly you behaving in this
extraordinary manner?
Rosencrantz
and
Guildenstern
Are Dead​
Act
I
ROS: Half of what he said meant
something else, and the other half
didn't mean anything at all.
GUIL: Thwarted ambition - a sense
of grievance, that's my diagnosis.
Rosencrantz
and
Guildenstern
Are Dead​
Act
I
Hamlet makes clear statements
about his mood and state of mind
to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern,
these lines indicate a mind that he
is using madness to deceive others.
He uses a hunting metaphor to
express that although he appears to
not be able to see who is his friend
and enemy at certain times of the
day, he clearly knows who is the
hawk.
Hamlet plans to have the king reveal
his own guilt by using a play that
resembles his father’s murder.
Mad
Rosencrantz summarized Hamlet’s
situation, listing all the reasons he
has for acting strange. Rosencrantz
feels it is reasonable for Hamlet to
be acting in this manner, but he
does not suspect he is plotting
revenge.
Mad
Guildenstern concludes that Hamlet
feels wronged because ambitions of
being king were destroyed by his
uncle. Rosencrantz insists that he is
depressed and rattles off what he
interprets to be nonsensical replies
Grade 12: Hamlet
ROS: ...He's depressed!...
Denmark's a prison and he'd
rather live in a nutshell; some
shadow-play about the nature of
ambition, which never got down to
cases, and finally one direct
question which might have led
somewhere, and led in fact to
his illuminating claim to tell a hawk
from a handsaw.
“There is a play tonight before the
King. One scene of it comes near
the circumstance Which I have told
thee of my father’s death. I
prithee, when thou seest that act
afoot, Even with the very comment
of thy soul Observe my uncle. If
his occulted guilt Do not itself
unkennel in one speech, It is a
damnèd ghost that we have seen,
And my imaginations are as foul
from Hamlet.
“O, what a noble mind is here
o'erthrown!”
Act III, scene i
line 163
Mad
“​
Love! his affections do not that
way tend; Nor what he spake,
though it lack'd form a little, Was
not like madness.”
Act III, scene i
lines 176-178
Mad in craft
Act III, scene ii
lines 80-92
Mad in craft
Ophelia reacts to Hamlet after their
meeting. His treatment of her leads
her to believe he is truly mad.
Claudius observes Hamlet’s
interactions with Ophelia. He does
not believe that he is in love with her
or that he is mad.
Hamlet lays out his plan to Horatio
and asks him to watch Claudius
during the play.
Grade 12: Hamlet
As Vulcan’s stithy. Give him heedful
note, For I mine eyes will rivet to
his face, And, after, we will both
our judgments join In censure of
his seeming.”
“Make you a wholesome answer;
my wit's diseased:”
“I like him not, nor stands it safe
with us To let his madness
range.”
“Alas he’s mad!
"Make you to ravel all this matter
out, That I essentially am not in
madness, But mad in craft"
“Alas, how is't with you,
That you do bend your eye on
vacancy And with the incorporal
air do hold discourse?”
“Mad as the sea and wind, when
both contend Which is the
mightier”
Hamlet responds with wit to
Guildenstern, saying he can’t give a
straight answer...he’s mad. This is
not something a mad person would
do.
Claudius now says that Hamlet is
mad, and he wants to get rid of him.
Act III, scene ii
lines 349
Mad in craft
Act III, scene iii
lines 1-2
Mad
Act III, scene iv
lines 121
Mad
Gertrude responds to Hamlet as he
sees the ghost.
Act III, scene iv
lines 133-135
Mad
Gertrude responds to Hamlet as he
sees the ghost.
Act III, scene iv
lines 208-210
Act IV, scene i
lines 7-8
Mad in craft
Mad in craft? Mad?
Hamlet tells his mother that he is
not mad, and asks her not to tell the
king.
Gertrude tells Claudius that Hamlet
is mad after he has killed Polonius.
Does she truly believe this or is she
following Hamlet’s instructions?
Grade 12: Hamlet
"you must needs have heard, how I
am punish'd With a sore
distraction"
Act V, scene ii
lines 243-244
Mad in craft
Although Hamlet is telling Laertes that
is his mad, he only does so to try
to make peace with him. He is
aware of his actions in this lie and
is not mad.
Grade 12: Hamlet