Madness
Madness is one of the many themes in Hamlet. The theme first appears when Hamlet decided to go mad to extract information from Claudius. He was not aware that the act would become permanent and that he would go truly insane. Hamlet exhibits true madness later in the play when his sees his fathers ghost again, while his mother cannot. The second time it appears is with Claudius. Claudius becomes paranoid which in some respects is a type of madness. Claudius fears that Hamlet knows what he did, so he wants Hamlet as far away from the kingdom as possible. He sends Hamlet to England along with orders to have him killed upon arrival. One of the last time madness appears is when Ophelia loses her mind after her father's death. Polonius's death was the final hammer strike that split Ophelia's mind apart. As a result she starts talking complete nonsense and often giggles to herself for no apparent reason. Madness in all three of these cases lead to the death of each of the characters: Hamlet and Claudius by poison and Ophelia by drowning.