Thursday, October 07, 2010

On the Madness of Hamlet

Claudius murdered Hamlet's father.   Hamlet believed that Claudius murdered his father.  I know scholars argue about whether Hamlet is crazy or sane -- whether his beliefs are delusional or not.  I'm not concerned with Hamlet's sanity.

Claudius acts as if he were a guilty man.  My conclusion about Claudius is based on the behavior of Claudius.  I prefer not to see Hamlet's sanity as dependent on the correctness of his representations about reality.  He probably qualifies as delusional -- after all, he talks to the ghost of his father.

Over the years people have gotten caught up in whether I am sane or crazy, as if that somehow affirms or disconfirms the correctness of my representations about our friends.  That is a misadventure.  I am probably crazy; in fact, for legal reasons I have to say I am crazy.

Independent of my mental status, our friends are crooked.  They are a pack of racketeers.  Your own conclusions should be based on an assessment of their behavior.  The criminality of our friends is a fact that exists independent of my representations about them.  Leave my sanity out of it!

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