Hamlet Q&A

It is established early that the Ghost is not a figment of Hamlet's imagination as several characters witness the appartion. However, it isn't apparent whether Hamlet is actually hearing the Ghost or whether the voice of the Ghost is just in his imagination. It is odd to learn that Hamlet’s father has come back to the world in order to push his son down a path of vengeance and destruction. Hamlet himself begins to wonder whether the Ghost had truly been his father, or whether he had been an evil spirit in the disguise of his father’s soul.

Hamlet decides to feign madness as he tries to formulate a plan for revenge against Claudius. However, his interactions with Gertrude and Ophelia seem to indicate an inner madness that Hamlet isn’t quite aware of himself. This trait of insanity takes a sudden leap after Hamlet confirms Claudius’s guilt but fails to bring himself to kill his uncle as he sits in prayer. On the complete edge of his nerves, Hamlet confronts his mother about her sex life, and in that heat, he accidentally murders Polonius.