Hamlet Claudius Quotes

This is an incredibly interesting passage. In the previous passage, Hamlet tells Gertrude that he isn't crazy but he asks her to lie and tell Claudius that he is in fact mad. As we can see here, Gertrude tells the king that Hamlet's as "mad as the sea and wind." Why does she do this? Is she trying to protect her son by lying to Claudius? Or, does she really think Hamlet's gone off the deep end? Where do Gertrude's loyalties lie at this point in the play?

Here, Claudius describes Ophelia as being "divided from herself." In other words, she's lost her mind. But what causes Ophelia to go mad? Duh: her ex-boyfriend has murdered her father. Right? Well, maybe it's more complex than that. Maybe she's actually just cracked under the patriarchal pressures of the court. Throughout the play, Ophelia is ordered around by her brother and her father and has no control over her social or love life. Madness might just be the only way she has of fighting back.

Ophelia's mad ramblings are super problematic to the royal court, as we see here when Claudius orders Horatio to keep a close eye on her. The fact is that Ophelia's babblings about her father's murder could have important political implications. Later, we see just how volatile the realm can be when Laertes leads a rebellion and finds many eager supporters who would help him overthrow King Claudius.