“What can all do? Praise and blame. This is human virtue, this is human madness." A brilliant philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, once said this. As simple as this quote may be, it has so many emotional layers and depth. To say that praising is madness, and blaming is also madness, how can this be? The answer lies in one of the most famous literary works ever written. It is hardly debatable to say that “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare is a work that directly connects the meaning of madness. Not only the manifestation of madness, but also its representation. To impersonate a person means to become that person over time. “Hamlet” asks the question: How long can you wear a disguise before you become one? Although Hamlet is the first mad character that comes to mind, Ophelia cannot be overlooked. “Or that the LORD had not set / his canon 'against self-slaying.” Ophelia's suicide occurred after an obvious distraction, and her madness was never really questioned. Generally, Shakespeare and his fellow Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights reserved suicide for obvious villains or Roman nobles, for whom suicide was in some circumstances the only honorable way out” (Bynum and Neve 393-394). Here it is discussed that God had designed life to be lived until the moment of death, suicide was a criminal act. Bynum and Neve argue that unless the person was out of their mind, suicide was only redeemable when it was for the lowest criminal. Ophelia was told by her father, Polonius, to reject Hamlet's declarations of love. She remained a good daughter and had to present herself to Hamlet as if she no longer cared about him, which forced her emotionally....... middle of paper......0), pp 357-366. Folger Shakespeare Library in collaboration with George Washington University. Network. 24 January 2014.Giuseppe, Miriam. ""Hamlet", a Christian tragedy." Philological Studies, vol. 59, no. 2, part 1 April 1962, pp. 119-140. University of North Carolina Press. Network. January 24, 2014.Mullaney, Steven. "Mourning and Misogyny: Hamlet, the Avenger's Tragedy, and the Final Progress of Elizabeth I, 1600-1607" Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 45, no. 2 (summer 1994), pp. 139-162. Folger Shakespeare Library in collaboration with George Washington University. Network. January 24, 2014.Snider, DJ 'HAMLET' The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, vol. 7, no. 1 (January 1873), pp. 71-87. Penn State University Press. Network. January 24, 2014.Shakespeare, William. Hamlet (The New Folger Shakespeare Library). Simon & Schuster; NewFolger Edition, 2003. Print. January 24th. 2014.