How does characterization reveal the inherent tension between illusion and reality in Hamlet?

The thin membrane separating illusion and reality in Shakespeare's Hamlet continues to enchant and beguile readers and audiences. Indeed, it's often difficult to know exactly what's real in Hamlet and what's fantasy. This tension is nowhere more apparent than in the characterization of Hamlet himself, especially in his decision to pretend to be "insane."

One of the central plot points in Hamlet is his "feigned" madness, put on originally to fool anyone who might otherwise...

The thin membrane separating illusion and reality in Shakespeare's Hamlet continues to enchant and beguile readers and audiences. Indeed, it's often difficult to know exactly what's real in Hamlet and what's fantasy. This tension is nowhere more apparent than in the characterization of Hamlet himself, especially in his decision to pretend to be "insane."

One of the central plot points in Hamlet is his "feigned" madness, put on originally to fool anyone who might otherwise catch on to his murderous plotting. Indeed, after talking with the ghost of his father during Act 1, Scene 5, Hamlet tells his friends to disregard him, no matter "how strange or odd some'er I bear myself -/ As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/ To put an antic disposition on -" (172). This quote suggests that Hamlet plans to purposefully pretend to be "antic," or crazy, in order to escape suspicion. 

All this is well and good, but as the play goes on, and as Hamlet's behavior becomes less and less effective and more and more outrageous, it's impossible not to wonder whether or not the prince is, in fact, actually mentally ill. As such, we begin to question the reality of his suspicions; perhaps, things regarding his mother, uncle, and father aren't exactly as they seem. After all, Hamlet was alone while talking to the ghost at the beginning of the play, and so it's possible some of the corruption in Denmark is a product of Hamlet's own diseased imagination, or perhaps the ghost itself is being dishonest. Now, Shakespeare makes no definitive statement either way on Hamlet's sanity, but the way that his character develops reveals the tension between reality and illusion; we're unsure whether or not Hamlet is sane or insane, and whether or not his suspicions are real or at least partially fabricated. It's one of the many ways that the play questions what's real and what's a product of our own illusions.