Editing Feigned madness (section)

==In fiction and mythology==
[[File:Odysseus fakes insanity - Unknown - Google Cultural Institute.jpg|thumb|upright|''Odysseus fakes insanity'', early 17th century tapestry. Ptuj Ormož Regional Museum, Ptuj Slovenia]] 
* [[Shakespeare]]'s [[Hamlet]], who feigns madness in order to speak freely and gain revenge—possibly based on a real person; see [[Hamlet (legend)]].
* ''[[Madness in Valencia]]'' is a 1590s comedy by [[Lope de Vega]] in which the male lead gets himself into an asylum to escape prosecution for murder. Other characters also feign for love.<ref>Lope De Vega (tr. David Johnston). Madness in Valencia (Absolute Classics, 1998).</ref>
* [[Odysseus]] feigned madness by yoking a horse and an ox to his plow and sowing salt<ref>the story does not appear in [[Homer]], but was apparently mentioned in [[Sophocles]]' lost tragedy ''The Mad Ulysses'': [[James George Frazer]], ''ed.'', ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus: Library, Epitome]] '''3.7''':[https://books.google.com/books?id=hDhgAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA177 footnote 2]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae2.html#95 ''Fabulae'' '''95'''] mentions the mismatched animals but not the salt.''</ref> or plowing the beach. [[Palamedes (mythology)|Palamedes]] believed that he was faking and tested it by placing his son, [[Telemachus]] right in front of the plow. When Odysseus stopped immediately, his sanity was proven.
* "Feign madness but keep your balance" is one of the [[Thirty-Six Stratagems]]
* ''[[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (novel)|One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest]]'', [[Randle McMurphy]] feigns insanity in order to serve out his criminal sentence in a mental hospital rather than a prison.
* In [[Henry IV (Pirandello)|Henry IV]] by [[Luigi Pirandello]], the main character feigns insanity.
* In [[Goodbyeee]], the last episode of BBC sitcom ''Blackadder'', Blackadder feigns madness to try to avoid being sent into battle.<ref>{{cite web|title=Goodbyeee|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/blackadder/episodes/four/four_goodbyee.shtml|publisher=BBC Comedy|access-date=28 July 2014}}</ref>
*The protagonist of the film ''[[Shock Corridor]]'' is a journalist who fakes insanity in order to gain access to an institution.
* In ''[[Ricochet (1991 film)|Ricochet]]'', Denzel Washington plays an assistant district attorney who feigns madness to catch a criminal by extraordinary means. He remarks: "Going insane, it's strangely liberating, isn't it?"
*Another notable example is ''[[Primal Fear (film)|Primal Fear]]'', adapted from the [[William Diehl]] [[Primal Fear (novel)|novel of the same name]]. In the film, Martin Vail ([[Richard Gere]]) defends a timid, young altar boy named Aaron Stampler ([[Edward Norton]]) accused of murdering an archbishop. Halfway through, Vail discovers Stampler has [[dissociative identity disorder]], with one sociopathic personality called "Roy," who was responsible for killing the Archbishop. However, after Stampler is released due to plea of insanity, Vail discovers Stampler faked the disorder in order to avoid execution. The film was Edward Norton's debut, which earned him an Oscar nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]].
*[[Jose Manalo]] and [[Wally Bayola]]'s roles in ''[[Scaregivers]]'' feigned madness by eating [[peanut butter]] disguised as stool samples, which landed them in a mental facility.
*In ''[[Colditz (1972 TV series)|Colditz]]'', a British television series about prisoners-of-war in WWII Germany, Wing Commander George Marsh feigns madness as a way of escaping. He successfully convinces his captors that he is insane and is duly repatriated. But there is a twist: after his return to Britain, Marsh becomes genuinely insane.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/571123/index.html|title=BFI Screenonline: Colditz (1972-74)}}</ref>