To Be Sane or Not to Be Sane, That is the Question

William Shakespeare's Hamlet has come down to us as the classic tale of a person tormented by his indecisive nature. One theme found in the play was madness. Early in the play, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, comes across the ghost of his father, who was murdered some months before. The crime has remained unsolved because no one knew of it, but the ghost tells Hamlet that the murderer was actually Hamlet's uncle Claudius, who in the meantime has married Hamlet's mother and is now sitting on the throne. The ghost calls upon Hamlet to avenge his death by killing Claudius. This is where Hamlet's dilemma and the debate over whether or not he is truly "mad" begins.
Had Hamlet used his instincts, he would have immediately run and committed murder, and there would have been no play to speak of. But Hamlet cannot do this. He spends the next four and a half acts ruminating about the philosophical and ethical considerations of one course of action versus another. Occasionally he expresses hi...