Hamlet So Far: Language, Smarts, and Probably Crazy.

Things I have learned about Hamlet so far are that he is a master of language, enjoys making fun of other people, and is possibly a little messed up in the brain. Hamlet is a master of language. He far exceeds others and he is extremely bright. This can be seen when the actors come to the castle and Hamlet is enraptured with them. He takes their acting to heart and sees it in a completely different light from Polonius who simply enjoys entertainment rather than brilliance in a show. Polonius thinks that the actor's soliloquy is too long but Hamlet wants to shush Polonius and wants to hear even more from the actor. Hamlet sees words as the key to genius. However, he does not seem to know that he himself is a genius. He recognizes that he is smarter than most people but he uses his smarts more to make fun of others and not so much to make himself seem smarter to people. Thus, the people in Hamlet don't really realize that Hamlet is smart. They think he is crazy. For example, Hamlet tells his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that he knows the difference between a "hawk and a handsaw" in Act II. While this may seem to be crazy talk because obviously a hawk and a handsaw are different, Hamlet may be trying to saw that he knows his friends and foes. For this matter, he is using his smarts to both warn his friends but also to prove how smart he is. However, Hamlet knows that his friends don't get  it. So that means that Hamlet is also making fun of his friends at the same time. Hamlet also enjoys making fun of Polonius. As when he reads a novel Polonius asks what matter he reads. Hamlet responds with "between who?" as if the word "matter" meant trouble rather than material. Hamlet also implies that Polonius is has no wit and is rather dumb. Polonius however, not being as smart as Hamlet, doesn't understand and simply thinks that Hamlet is mad. Hamlet continues his charade with words by constantly using puns, double ententres, and irony to make fun of others as well as warn them about the coming troubles ahead. It does seem a bit unnecessary though for Hamlet to go through such a massive charade. He really doesn't need to pretend he is crazy. In fact, if he did not act crazy then no one would pay much attention to him and he could go about his task of killing Claudius with little trouble. With that said, since it is more logical to be normal, it may be that Hamlet is in fact a little insane due to the fact that Hamlet is choosing to be so crazy. So he could be crazy due to how he is acting crazy.