What is known about the kind of person Hamlet was before his father's death? Does he have the same stature of a tragic hero such as Oedipus? How does news of the murder and his mother's remarriage affect his behavior and view of life? Is he mad, as Polonius assumes, or is he pretending to be mad? Is there a "method in ‘t'' (II.ii.200)? What does the ghost demand of Hamlet?