Madness in Shakespearean plays is a very difficult condition to identify whether it is real or not. Shakespeare uses it a lot. Each of his characters experiences the state of madness, at least at one point in the work. However, the truth always remains a mystery because Shakespeare loves to let the readers decide what will happen. At the beginning of "Hamlet", the ghost of Hamlet's father appears on the scene and asks Hamlet to avenge his death. This puts him in the position of having to carry out that task, but in secret, so he decides to fake his madness. His behavior and mood during the show changes often. So, Shakespeare basically lets the audience decide whether Hamlet is truly mad or not. Throughout Shakespeare's Hamlet, Hamlet's questionable madness is explored through his actual madness, actions, and others' reactions to his behavior. In some cases, Hamlet's madness can be seen as real. For example, when he tries to kill Claudius, but kills Polonius. Furthermore, Hamlet kills without seeing what he is doing, which shows his loss of reason for being mad. Furthermore, we see evidence that Hamlet is mad even before he begins to "act as if he were mad." As is evident at the beginning of the play, Horatio and Marcellus tried to restrain Hamlet, but Hamlet rebelled. Hamlet said: "I am still called. Leave me, gentlemen -/ Heaven, I will make him who allows me a ghost! / I say, away" (1.4, 84-86). Hamlet risked a lot, without thinking about the possible consequences. As he walks towards the ghost, Hamlet displays the behavior of tenacity, characteristic of madness. Further evidence of his madness is seen when he denies doing what he is told to do, as well as his ov... middle of paper... despite Hamlet's true madness, the artificial actions and reactions of others . By providing few stage directions, Shakespeare leaves the reader to give his own interpretation. The audience is left with Hamlet's words and actions and the reactions of others to determine whether Hamlet's madness is actually contrived or real. This evidence is lacking to clearly define Shakespeare's complex character, Hamlet. Furthermore, to better understand the reactions of the characters in the play, modern audiences must familiarize themselves with the Renaissance way of thinking, as the play was written in that time period for that audience. However, the complexity of the character and the way of thinking of modern audiences completely prevent us from truly knowing whether Hamlet is mad. As a result, Hamlet's madness can only be best understood through one's interpretation.