Hamlet Essay

“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t”.  This line, spoken by Polonious, is one of the most important lines spoken in Shakespears’ Hamlet. This line illustrates the central theme of the play. From the time of Hamlet senior’s death to the final scene, the entire plot is chaotic. Every character has secrets and devises a plot at some point in the play. Hamlet, the character that this quote was directed to, was the master of hiding his true intentions behind a false representation of himself.  When this line was spoken, it gave not only the characters but also the audience, a critical understanding of the innerworkings into the mind of the main characters of the play.

Hamlet is the most complex character in the play.  From the opening scene, we see him being misrepresented by Claudius.  He is constantly being described as a depressed, horny, dramatic teenager. It wasn;t until this line was spoken that the first accurate repsrentation was presented of Hamlet. It was Hamlet’s objective to make everyone think he had gone mad over the death of his father so that they would not view him as a threat.