Through this approach that Hamlet seems to use many times, it is hard to know if Hamlet is telling the truth or acting a fool. "I have of late but wherefore I know not--lost all my mirth", says Hamlet to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. After discovering that they are spying on him, he says he'll tell them what's wrong with him, to save them the trouble of finding out for themselves. Because of this, it again highlights how hard it is to tell how to take the famous speech. When he says "man delights not me” is he sincere, or is he playing the “fool” for the benefit of his false friends?
Hamlet turns his character again, further on, when he warns Horatio and Marcellus to keep the Ghost a secret, Hamlet adds that they can't so much as hint that they know anything, even if he should act "strange or odd." "I perchance hereafter shall think meet, to put an antic disposition on". Hamlet never says why he might act strange, but pretended madness was a widely used plot device in the revenge tragedy of Shakespeare's time. In those plays, the revenger acted crazy so that his targets wouldn't know what he was up to until the minute before he killed them.
A question that may be asked is “Mad for thy love?” Polonius put this question across to Ophelia. She tells him about Hamlet's strange visit to her closet. This wasn’t really a question, because Polonius jumps to his conclusion and then sticks with it. For the rest of the play he is sure that Hamlet had been driven over the edge because of Ophelia (on her father's orders) who wasn’t allowed to see him any more. Polonius' idea has its roots in a popular idea of the time, which was that frustrated love brings on an act of madness. This was a good excuse for Hamlet to pursue the Ghost without rising suspicion of it ever being there. He does this to stop Horatio’s pleading with Hamlet not to follow the Ghost. Horatio asks him to think about what might happen if the Ghost "assume some other horrible form, Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason, And draw you into madness". Horatio believes that the Ghost is not Hamlet's father in the form of a ghost, but a spirit in the form of Hamlet's father. That spirit could instantly take on another shape or lure Hamlet to the edge of a cliff, where the sight of the depth "so many fathoms to the sea" puts "toys of desperation . . . into every brain."
Hamlet uses puns and paradoxes, which shows his character as witty and capable of logical thinking. "Thrift, thrift, Horatio! The funeral baked meats, did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables". This pun bitterly jokes that the real reason his mother's remarriage came so soon after her husband's death, was so that she could save money by serving the leftover funeral refreshments to the wedding guests.
“Excellent well; you are a fishmonger”. This is a response from Hamlet, when Polonius asks a sincere question when he believed Hamlet to be mad, "Do you know me, my lord?" This is the first of a series of bitter puns that Hamlet directs at the uncomprehending Polonius. The basis of it is apparently Hamlet's prior thoughts that Polonius forced Ophelia to stop seeing Hamlet. In Hamlet's opinion, Polonius sacrificed his daughter's happiness in order to get closer to the King. Therefore, "fishmonger" is often explained as slang for "pimp," however it is not a known word in Shakespearean time. Hamlet then makes his insult sharper by wishing that Polonius were as honest as a fishmonger, which is to say that Polonius is lower than the lowest of the low! Hamlet goes on to say that "to be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man pick'd out of ten thousand" and then says what Polonius probably thinks is a very crazy thing: "For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog, being a god kissing carrion--Have you a daughter?"
The comment about the sun and maggots has at least two possible meanings. One meaning is that it's not surprising that Polonius is such a hypocrite, because the life-giving sun can produce all kinds of disgusting things, especially from other disgusting things. The second meaning Hamlet explains, so Polonius cannot understand. When Polonius says that he does have a daughter, Hamlet replies, "Let her not walk in the sun: conception is a blessing: but not as your daughter may conceive”. In other words, if Polonius is going to keep Ophelia away from Hamlet for fear that she'll get another man, he better keep her out of the sun, too, because even the sun can produce pregnancies.
Polonius seems to be at the end of most of Hamlets puns. This could be because Hamlet truly dislikes Polonius and the ways he has handled the matter of Ophelia. When Polonius asked Hamlet a question Hamlet replied "Into my grave”, "Will you walk out of the air, my lord?" Apparently the chamber is drafty, and Polonius is inviting Hamlet to go to a warmer room, but Hamlet implies that he's sooner be dead than go anyplace with Polonius. Showing that Hamlet Dislikes being with Polonius. This shows the darker side of Hamlets character and the implications it could bring.
As we can see, Hamlet is a quick-witted character with a strong mind and a “heavy” heart. Hamlet spends most of his time thinking. A good deal of his narrative sounds more like speeches as if he is speaking to himself, or his own mind. Good deals of Hamlet’s speeches are soliloquies, however, even when he is speaking to someone, it sounds as if he is contemplating matters in his own mind. Hamlet’s ability to act, and his vivid imagination drive gets more insane as the play moves on. He becomes less and less rational, and moves further away from reality. He woos Ophelia, leads her to believe he will take her as his wife, but then tells her he feels he is not worthy and she should: “Get thou to a nunnery! Why wouldst thou be a Breeder of sinners?”
