Sample Lit Analysis Paragraph

This paragraph is created directly from the quote organizer.

Hamlet is merely acting crazy in the beginning of the play. For example, Hamlet is talking to Horatio after seeing the ghost in the tower. He says to him and the others, "I will put on an antic disposition" (I,v). This means that he is putting on an act of being crazy or "antic". Another example is later, when he's talking to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern after he figures out that they're spying on him. He tells them, "I am but mad north by northwest. When the wind is southerly, I can tell a hawk from a handsaw" (II,ii). Here, he is telling him that he is only acting crazy some of the time. He can turn it off when he needs to. These quotes prove (show, demonstrate, exemplify) that Hamlet knows exactly what he's doing. Through Acts 1 and 2, it is clear he isn't insane. He is merely acting insane to cover up his real plans.