What type of madness does Shakespeare present in Hamlet?

Answer 1

All of the characters make poor decisions, but only two things are actually referred to as mad. Hamlet's madness is mostly feigned, but the things he does that the court sees as insane are to speak insultingly and cryptically, and to kill Polonius. Ophelia's madness is real, and consists of speaking cryptically and singing bawdy songs, handing out flowers, and either drowning herself or failing to save herself from being drowned. So the two overt types of madness are to be rude and inappropriate in public, and to show a reckless lack of regard for human life. Whether characters such as Hamlet and Claudius also display more subtle forms of madness is open to debate.

Answer 2

Act 3 starts with the Nunnery Scene. In the course of it, Hamlet loses it and starts abusing women in general (he is a bit of a misogynist) and Ophelia in particular and says "It hath made me mad!". However, Claudius, hiding behind a curtain is finding Hamlet to be more and more sane. "Love? His affections do not that way tend. And what he spake, though it lacked form a little, was not madness." Claudius (who is an astute psychologist) realizes that there is something on Hamlet's mind "on which he sits on brood", and his mood is dangerous. Hamlet's mask of craziness is cracked.

Next comes the play within the play. At the end of it, "the king rises", calling for lights. He is very troubled and is losing his iron self-control. Hamlet's response is wild and whirling: he seems crazy but he is just over-elated at confirming the Ghost's story (and unfortunately also confirming Claudius's suspicions of him)

And so on to the Closet Scene. Hamlet appears to be quite crazy to Gertrude. He sees the ghost, and she cannot. Seeing him talking to the thin air certainly makes him look crazy. And now, the "antic disposition" which Hamlet has put on turns against him. He has to try to persuade Gertrude that "it is not my madness that speaks", so that she will believe what he has to say--that Claudius is a murderer, and she has rewarded him for it. At the very end of the scene, Gertrude says "Hamlet hath in madness Polonius slain" but she knows he's sane and is using the madness as a cover for his crime. So by this point in the play, all of the major characters know Hamlet is really sane, but are still operating with the accepted fiction that he is not.

Answer 3

She hands wildflowers to people, sings dirty songs, orders carriages for herself, calls men ladies and so on. Read or watch Act IV Scene 5 if you want all the details.