Ad-free experience
Study Guides for 1,000+ titles
Full Text content for 250+ titles
No Fear Translations of Shakespeare’s plays (along with audio!) and other classic works
Flashcards
Mastery Quizzes
Infographics
Graphic Novels
AP® Practice & Lessons
Note-taking
Bookmarking
Dashboard
What happens in Act 1, Scene 5 of Hamlet?
The ghost of Hamlet’s father says that Claudius murdered him with poison, and that he wants Hamlet to kill Claudius, but spare Gertrude. Hamlet swears he will and tells his companions that he will pretend to be insane to get to the truth.
Read our Summary & Analysis of Act 1, Scene 5. (2-minute read)
Why does the Ghost tell Hamlet to “Leave her to heaven” regarding Gertrude?
A likely explanation for why the Ghost of King Hamlet instructs his son to not kill Gertrude, but rather to let God administer justice to her, is that he still loves her—despite her role in his murder. This reveals something about King Hamlet, but it also suggests that Gertrude is an intriguing and apparently highly captivating character—one capable of inspiring a man to commit murder while retaining the love of the victim of that murder.
/shakespeare/hamlet/character/gertrude/
Why does Hamlet announce that he is going to pretend to be insane?
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on
At the end of Act 1, Scene 5, after the Ghost reveals to Hamlet that Claudius murdered him by putting poison in his ear as he slept, Hamlet decides to investigate the Ghost’s claims, stating that he will pretend to be mad (“put an antic disposition on”) while he investigates. As we will see soon, part of the reasoning behind Hamlet’s plan seems to be that if he is thought be to be insane, Claudius (the target of his probing) won’t see him as a threat.
However, a deeper explanation that we might consider for Hamlet saying he will pretend to be mad is that Hamlet either consciously or unconsciously realizes that this wouldn’t be much of stretch for him. The question of whether Hamlet is sane or insane is explored in the a short essay (“Is Hamlet Really Mad?”) as well as in the play’s Madness versus Cunning theme (the second theme).
