Hamlet Madness Quotes

My lord, as I was sewing in my closet,
Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced;
No hat upon his head; his stockings foul’d,
Ungarter’d, and down-gyved to his ancle;
Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other;
And with a look so piteous in purport
As if he had been loosed out of hell
To speak of horrors, – he comes before me.

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 1. Ophelia is frightened when Hamlet suddenly entered her room in a disheveled condition. She doesn’t know what to do and expresses concern about Hamlet’s strange behavior to her father Polonius. Her reliance on Polonius reinforces the idea that she is dependant on male figures and does not have the ability to think for herself. Polonius tells her Hamlet is mad with love.

This is the very ecstasy of love.

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 1. Polonius to Ophelia, speaking about Hamlet’s crazy love, after he burst into Ophelia’s chamber half dressed and frantic. Polonius says that his daughter’s rejection of Hamlet has left him mad and they must report this to the King. For a man who prides himself on his superior insights and and his clever stratagems, it is an irony that Polonius is immediately taken in by Hamlet’s pretence of madness because of lovesickness.

You are a fishmonger.

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2. Hamlet’s response to Polonius’ question, "Do you know me, my lord?" It has been said that fishmonger is slang for pimp, suggesting that Polonius has been willing to sell his daughter’s happiness in exchange for honors from the king. Hamlet is also pretending not to recognize the councilor to the king and feigning madness, allowing him to mock and ridicule Polonius. He is punning by comparing Polonius to a fisherman, since Polonius is trying to fish for answers from Hamlet.

O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown!
The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s eye, tongue, sword;
The expectancy and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
The observed of all observers!

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1. Ophelia says this when Hamlet leaves the stage after his "Get thee to a nunnery" speech. She is convinced that he is mad and she mourns the downfall of one of Denmark’s most promising young men. In bewailing the lost of such a "noble mind," her own descent into madness is being foreshadowed. Ophelia’s speech is poignantly ironic. Having no inkling of Hamlet’s true motivations for his cruelty, mocking and rejection of her, nor any idea of the real reason for his madness, she sings his praises as a soldier, scholar and courtier.

Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4. Gertrude is lost for words and appears remorseful for marrying Claudius after Hamlet’s accusations. For the first time she realizes the possibility that Claudius murdered her former husband. She promises that she will not reveal to Claudius that Hamlet is not crazy, but pretending to be. She will maintain the lie that she believes her son mad.

Mad as the sea and wind, when both contend
Which is the mightier: in his lawless fit,
Behind the arras hearing something stir,
Whips out his rapier, cries, ‘A rat, a rat!’
And, in this brainish apprehension, kills
The unseen good old man.

– William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 1. Gertrude says this in response to Claudius who asks how is Hamlet. She tells him that her son is quite mad and has killed Polonius. But Hamlet has already told her that he is not mad, but is pretending to be, and asked her not to reveal this to Claudius. So she tells Claudius a lie.
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