Hamlet poses many question about what causes someone to become "mad". In Act II there are many theorys as to why Hamlet is acting so strangely and one of them is his love for Ophelia. POlonius tries to confront Hamlet about their relationship and Hamlet just reasures Polonius of his thoughts that he is in fact insane. While it seems Hamlet is tallking alot of non-sense, he is in fact always onme steo ahead of everyone. He disguises his insults to Polonius with strange random questions. This plot to fake being crazy is all for the purpose of a smooth transition for Hamlet to prove the guilt of the new king. He wants to keep everyone unaware that he is on to the murderous plot of his uncle killing his father so he must act as if he doesn't know anything.
If Hamlet is merely pretending to be mad, as he suggests, he does almost too good a job of it. His portrayal is so convincing that it leaves one to think his already fragile sanity will shatter at the sight of his dead father’s ghost. However, the acute and cutting observations he makes while supposedly mad support the view that he is only pretending. Importantly, he declares, “I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw” That is, he is only “mad” at certain calculated times, and the rest of the time he knows what is what. But he is certainly confused and upset, and his confusion translates into an extraordinarily intense state of mind suggestive of madness. .
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