What drives Hamlet to madness? How does this relate to Ophelia's madness? Are Hamlet and Ophelia really crazy? These are some questions I contemplated while reading Hamlet. The main character, Hamlet, pretends to be insane after learning of his father's murder; however, he becomes insane later in the play. Is it possible that Hamlet became so involved in his father's murder that he was unable to distinguish fantasy from reality? At the beginning of the play, Hamlet has learned that his brother, the new king, Claudius, has killed his father. In Christian Wertenbaker: What is the riddle in HAMLET? (Sirs.com, 2011) states: “From that moment on, Hamlet will have to find his way. He became a seeker of truth. Unless he personally verifies the facts, he cannot carry out the act” (1). This shows that Hamlet cannot back out of what he is supposed to do. In his eyes he sees himself as the chosen one to avenge his father. In fact, Hamlet proclaims: “Time is out of phase. O cursed spirit, that I was ever born to set it right" (IV 207-208)! Hamlet is already stressed by his bad luck. He sees no other option but to kill his uncle. After meeting the ghost, Hamlet becomes obsessed with death. It is obvious that Hamlet is struggling with the idea of ​​whether or not he can commit the act. At this point he is capable of reasoning, but first he was cunning enough to invent his false madness. He has not lost the ability to discriminate right from wrong; so he's not crazy. To be mad a person loses total reason. However he is determined to find out whether Claudius really killed his father or not. Then, Hamlet puts on a play that reveals the truth about his father's death. This comedy serves as a strategy to force Claudi... to the center of the paper... the action has been devoured by thought, to whom the universe seems infinite, and himself nothing; whose bitterness [75] of soul makes him careless of the consequences, and who goes to the theater because his best resource is to ward off, at a later time, the evils of life through a false representation of them - this is the real Hamlet ” (2). To me this means that Hamlet is what the audience or reader makes him to be. He's not crazy, but he's part of everyone. You can see it in the audience. This comedy contains a truth, the truth of life. Hamlet's character contains many shared feelings such as pain, fear, and loneliness. Because Hamlet's character lives through the reader. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Literature "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark": an introduction to reading and writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts. 9th edition. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009. Print