August Film Inservice: Was Hamlet Criminally Responsible? by Sarah Rosenbaum

Hamlet killed Polonius. Was it murder, self defense, manslaughter or something else? But before there can be a trial to resolve this question, there must first be a preliminary trial to determine whether Hamlet is sane (the legal term is criminally responsible) and able to stand trial or mad (so unfit to be tried.) In this first trial, Hamlet’s Attorney attempts to prove him mad and the Prosecutor attempts to prove him sane.

This is the set up for a mock trial held in the Supreme Court building in 1994 with Justice Anthony Kennedy presiding. The whole thing was part of a fund raiser for the Shakespeare Theatre; the participants and attendees were mostly lawyers. Most of the audience were not identified, but the docents enjoyed a game of "Spot the Celebrity." Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a member of the jury. Hamlet was present at the defense table, dressed in the traditional Elizabethan black suit; he stood and sat as requested, but never spoke.

The two lead attorneys were Abbe Lowell and Theodore Olson. They stuck close to the facts as given in the source document; i.e. Hamlet. A side shot showed that at least one of them was using the Folger edition. The key issue was whether Hamlet was feigning madness: it was pointed out that he acted mad only in the presence of people that he didn’t trust. A psychiatrist was called for each side. The one for the defense diagnosed Bipolar Disorder. Key symptoms in this diagnosis were hearing voices (no one else hears the ghost speak), a feeling of grandiosity and special mission (but as the opposition pointed out, he was in fact the prince.), mood changes and finally a habit of word play, puns, etc. In the "to be or not to be" soliloquy, was he contemplating suicide or meditating on the human condition? The parallel was drawn between him and Ophelia; both had a father murdered by someone too highly placed to bring to justice. She clearly went mad.

Was his response madness or cunning cloaked in madness?

The jury verdict was that Hamlet was sane; they also recommended that the prosecutor consider prosecuting him for the destruction of Ophelia. The judge remanded him to pages of our Literary Canon.