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Though this be madness, yet there is method in't. An essay on Shakespeare's use of madness The Tragedies Of Shakespeare 20 December, 1996 Page 1                           'Your noble son is mad --                  'Mad' call I it, for to define true madness,                  What is't but to be nothing else but mad?' (Wells and Taylor, 665)         In Act two, scene two of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, Polonius uses these words to inform Hamlet's parents of their son's insanity. He then continues …

…madness, and not just to the character Hamlet. There is a method Page 10 and a meaning for every incidence of insanity, and indeed, often more than one. Insights we might glean from an examination of these meanings are among Shakespeare's lasting gifts to us, even many hundreds of years later. This is a profound gift, and one to be treasured. Work Cited Wells and Taylor. William Shakespeare The Complete Works.         New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.