Hamlet: Observations on MadnessOne of the most analyzed plays in existence is the tragedy Hamlet, with its recurring question: "Is Hamlet's old-fashioned disposition feigned or real?" Indeed, this question can only be answered by observing the thoughts of the main characters in relation to the cause of Hamlet's real or feigned madness. In the tragedy Hamlet, each of the main characters explains Hamlet's madness in his own unique way. To discover the cause behind Hamlet's madness, each character used their own ambitions, emotions, and interpretations of past events. Characters sought to explain Hamlet's "bizarre disposition" through association with thwarted ambitions, heartbreaking anguish, and denied love. In the workings of their thoughts, characters inadvertently reveal something about their desires, emotions, and experiences to the reader. The thoughts of Guildenstern and Rosencrantz present the reader with a possible factor for the cause of Hamlet's supposed madness. The two men believe that the cause of Hamlet's madness is his lack of "advancement" or his thwarted ambition. In a conversation with Hamlet in Act II Scene II, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz come to this idea: Hamlet: Denmark is a prison. Rosencrantz: So it's the world one. Hamlet: Good; in which there are many borders, wards and dungeons, of which Denmark is one of the worst. Rosencrantz: We don't think so, my lord. Hamlet: Why, then, it is none of your concern; because there is nothing good or bad, but the thought goes like this: for me it is a prison. When the designated heir calls his inheritance a prison, something must be seriously wrong, and it's not difficult for the...... middle of the article ......rman N. Holland, Sidney Homan and Bernard J Paris. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 175-190. Leverenz, David. 1980. "The Woman in Hamlet: An Interpersonal View." In Representing Shakespeare: New Psychoanalytic Essays, edited by Coppelia Kahn and Murray M. Schwarz. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins Press, 110-128. Levin, Richard. 1990. "The Poetics and Politics of Bardicide." PMLA 105: 491-504. Vickers, Brian. 1993. Appropriating Shakespeare: Contemporary Critical Disputes. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.Watson, Robert N. 1990. “Giving Up the Ghost in a Decaying World: Hamlet, Revenge, and Denial.” Renaissance Drama 21:199-223. Wright, George T. 1981. “Hendiadys and Hamlet.” PMLA 96:168-193.Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark. New York: Washington Square Press, 1992