Madness is used in many ways in Hamlet - it's used to disguise the truth (Hamlet's true motives) as well as reveal it (the truth in Hamlet's riddles and Ophelia's songs). It is used to compare the rigid order of the court, though riddled with secrets, with the turmoil of a grieving mind.

Grief can play tricks on the mind, even conjure ghosts. But when Hamlet’s dead father appears to him one night, he signals murder, not madness. Hamlet’s mother has married his uncle, and at a less than decent interval too.

The ghost of Old Hamlet reveals to his son that he was murdered by Claudius and demands that young Hamlet seeks revenge. Hamlet decides to feign madness in an attempt to find proof of his uncle's guilt.

Feb 10, 2025 · This is, then, a complex Hamlet and Thallon embraces the idea that he is truly mad. Soaked in grief at the start of the play and instantly moving, there is a tone of Andrew Scott’s Dane that is in touch with the emotional chasm of grief that his father’s death has caused.

behaviour and Polonius speculates that Hamlet is mad with love. Act 2 Scene 2: Polonius tells Gertrude and Claudius of Hamlet's strange behaviour and they agree to watch him secretly. Polonius talks with Hamlet who appears to be mad. Later …

This is Hamlet with Tourette syndrome, this is Hamlet who is literally barking mad … when he wants to be. He completely dominates the play, which is as it should be. The interval comes right after the To Be or Not To Be speech.

Feb 23, 2025 · Elliot Levey’s Polonius brought some levity to the evening in a recognisably paternal way. Luke Thallon, in his RSC debut, was brilliantly manic as Hamlet, understating the big speeches so that the audience hang on his words, and somehow controlling the events around him as he lost control himself.

Grief can play tricks on the mind, even conjure ghosts. But when Hamlet’s dead father appears to him one night, he signals murder, not madness. Hamlet’s mother has married his uncle, and at a less than decent interval too.

Feb 10, 2025 · The ‘Mad Men’ actor speaks to Louis Chilton about his new production of ‘Hamlet’ at the RSC, reinventing himself in the US, and the ‘extreme’ response to his theatrical comeback Monday ...

Feb 27, 2025 · Rupert Goold's bold new interpretation of Hamlet reimagines the Shakespearean revenge play on the Titanic, in a move that might seem confusing, works better that you may expect but still leaves one with a few too many questions.