Hamlet Act III.I and III.II;

In which Hamlet's madness is discussed, Ophelia gets a book, and a play is performed

In the beginning scene III.I, we see a brief conversation between King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, Polonius Rosencrantz and Guildenstern about Hamlet's strange behavior. The King and Queen are more concerned about Hamlet's reception of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but they assure them that although Hamlet confessed to feeling a bit out of sorts and that his manners seemed forced, he greeted them in proper fashion as a gentleman of the court. The King takes this as a good sign that Hamlet is retaining his senses and tells them to encourage Hamlet to partake in such joys as attending plays. This can easily be seen as evidence that Hamlet is merely feigning madness in the presence of those he has deemed it necessary, and at convenient times.

Polonius gives a book to Ophelia and tells her to read it (probably to keep her occupied and out of the way for a while). His explanation and the King's guilty aside are interrupted by the entrance of Hamlet, so they make a hasty retreat and hide to watch. Hamlet makes his famous "to be or not to be" speech, concluding by addressing Ophelia. She returns his greeting, and offers a few trinkets she has for him to think of her by, and Hamlet chooses this moment to turn his "I'm crazy" routine from "rant" mode to "sarcastic disbelief" mode. After some convincing, he accepts the trinkets and confesses that he is not really in love with Ophelia (something that is entirely lost on Polonius), but that he was at one time. At this point, Hamlet bumps the crazy routine up a notch and starts contradicting himself while remaining coherent; he proceeds to insult Ophelia a bit, telling her to join a nunnery, either meaning a nunnery or a brothel, and then mocks her father, saying he is a fool and that he should play the part in his own house, not anywhere else. He finishes with more insults, becoming quite rude, and exits abruptly. I take this to show that Hamlet is only pretending to be mad when he begins after seeing the ghost, but as he progresses, he loses himself to it and has the occasional fit of real madness in which he loses control.

The Kind and Polonius reemerge to comment on Hamlet's actions, the King now convinced that Hamlet is not in love with Ophelia and that he will be back to his normal, dismal self in no time, Polonius, however, is still convinced that Hamlet is obsessed with Ophelia and that his repressed love is slowly driving him mad.

Act III.II opens on Hamlet accosting several of the players that have recently come to the castle to perform for the court. He instructs them how they ought to perform, threatening them if they do not perform in a satisfactory manner. His 'act' of madness, as I take it to be, is unnecessary here, as the players have little part in the court, and won't see him often enough to make much of it. This is further evidence to me that Hamlet's madness is something that he willingly started, but got out of his control. The King, Queen and their associates enter and sit, inviting Hamlet to join them. He exchanges some suggestive lines with Ophelia, and then sits at her feet to watch the play, which he had the players modify. Hamlet is one of those people who can't resist making odd comments in the middle of a performance, and he says a few things such as "wormwood, wormwood" and talks to Ophelia. After the play, the King's guilty conscience is bothering him, and he retires to his chambers. Hamlet then does a good job of convincing everyone that he is at least a little insane by trying to force Guildenstern to play a flute-like instrument of some sort for no apparent reason. He is informed that the Queen wishes to speak to him, and everyone else exits, leaving him to a final speech to himself about the conversation he is about to have with his mother.

Although he maintains his physical appearance (no more soiled socks and lost pants) throughout the scene, his dialog seems to indicate a quiet sort of madness gnawing at the edges of his mind, pushing his false madness closer to reality. My prediction? He will keeps this up until he finally goes bonkers and we reach the inevitable conclusion of this Shakespearian tragedy- the death of all the main characters.