Final answer:
The speaker of the quotation 'I am but mad north north west. When the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw' is Hamlet from Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet'.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct speaker for the quotation "I am but mad north north west. When the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw" is Hamlet, the protagonist in William Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet'. This line is often interpreted to mean that Hamlet is claiming to be selectively sane, able to distinguish reality from madness (a hawk from a handsaw) under certain conditions, akin to being able to discern good information from bad, or figuratively, the useful from the useless, when circumstances are favorable (when the wind is southerly).This quote is from Shakespeare's play Hamlet and is spoken by the character Hamlet himself. In this particular passage, he is expressing his own state of mind, saying that he is only slightly crazy in a specific direction, like a compass pointing north-northwest. He is referring to his ability to distinguish between a hawk and a handsaw when the wind is blowing from the south.