Mental Illness in Shakespeare's Works

By his cockle hat and staff and his sandal shoon.” (V. IV. 23-26) This shows how Ophelia has became crazy over Hamlet’s inability to show affection towards her and him rejecting her. Ophelia’s madness soon spirals into her commuting suicide by drowning herself in the river. This can be linked to Nietzche’s statement that there is some madness in love, as Ophelia’s love for Hamlet caused her to become crazy. Hamlet also shows signs of madness due to his relationship with Ophelia. Throughout the play it is unknown to the audience if Hamlet truly has feelings for Ophelia. It is not until Act V that the audience becomes aware of Hamlet’s true feelings when he finds out about Ophelia’s death, Hamlet states, “ I loved Ophelia. Forty thousand brothers could not with all their quantity of love make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?” (V.I. 255-257) This shows how Hamlet become mad with rage and sorrow as he hears of her death, finally revealing his true feelings. This relates to Nietzche’s statement that there is some madness in love, as Hamlet has not been able to show his true feeling for Ophelia, and once he become aware of her death he is filled with sorrow. This madness is shown when Hamlet develops a plan to fool everyone to thinking he is crazy.

      When one refers to madness in Hamlet, most would think of Hamlet's madness, or at least that that he was pretending to possess. Although Ophelia does go insane and ultimately commits suicide, the central lunacy of the play revolves around Hamlet himself. Hamlet's plan to act mad is completely unexplained. It is safe to

Shakespeare also exemplifies contrast of mental illness and wellness between characters in the play Hamlet. As the characters, Ophelia and Hamlet both endure the stress of a father's death their actions begin to change. This makes it easy for a reader to perceive the difference between Hamlet, Ophelia, and the other characters in the play. Hamlet is one of Shakespeare’s most complex characters, his insanity is often a subject of debate. The article “Mechanics of Madness in Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear” states that “he is an apt example of the complexities of the human psyche which are often beyond comprehension” (Ebsco). To find out the answer to the ultimate question of whether Hamlet is insane, comparing his actions to those of other characters would be helpful. At the beginning of the play both Hamlet and Horatio are trusted when the ghost appears to the guards. However, soon after Hamlet begins to spiral into insanity. In Act Two, Scene Two Hamlet talks with Polonius and this is the first time a reader can see Hamlet start to act unstable. Hamlet begins with “You are a fish monger” (190), and after Polonius corrects he continues to act deranged, by the end of their conversation Polonius is convinced “though this be madness” (223), meaning that he believes Hamlet is mad. However, Hamlet seems to be able to control his madness, which is why people often think that he is just acting. But by the end of the play Hamlet, similar to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, has hallucinations. He sees his father’s ghost again, but this time no one else can see it. Hamlet asks his mother, “Do you see nothing here?” (3.4, 150), and she answers with “Nothing at all” (3.4, 151). Comparing Hamlet’s actions to his Mother’s in this scene creates a sense that Hamlet’s acting mad and need for revenge has caused his to change his mental state. Ophelia, also driven mad by her father's death, plus Hamlet's twisted love for her can also be compared to Hamlet throughout the play to see that she is sane at the beginning, but just as mad as Hamlet, if not more, by the end. Ophelia at the start of the play is trying to help the King and her father to catch Hamlet, what she thought was to help him. However, after her lover, Hamlet,

People do not realize how blessed they are to have the medical advances and medical technology

Shakespeare's plays have tendencies to be tragedies with those who suffer from flaws or mental illness`s that can lead them to death. Hamlet is a tragic play written by Shakespeare about the prince who`s uncle killed his father. Hamlet lives with many difficult moments that can affect anyones mentally. In the play Hamlet, mental illness is a common problem that creates tragedy in the lives of Hamlet and Ophelia throughout the play. Hamlet displays signs of Schizophrenia with the way he hallucinates his deceased father King Hamlet. Ophelia suffers from mental illness from mental abuse she has suffered from her significant other. These two characters suffer from mental illness that affect those around them.

Ever wonder why characters in Hamlet seem to be so skittish, paranoid and seemingly “off”? It probably has little to nothing to do with mental illness! Mental illness includes a wide range of thoughts, actions and behaviors. In 2017, the society as a whole has moved toward recognizing mental illness as the very real and important disorders that they are. That said, learning the difference between mental illness and having ‘symptoms’ of mental disorders, is imperative for the growth of a generation. The qualifications for diagnosing require a degree obtained after extensive schooling, neither of which a senior in high school has. For the sake of this paper, I will ignorantly diagnose a fictional character from William Shakespeare’s, “Hamlet”. This story takes place in a much older time in Denmark. King Hamlet was pronounced dead and two castle guards claim they have seen his ghost. The ghost speaks to Prince Hamlet, King Hamlet’s son, and tells him he has been murdered by the new King which is King Hamlet’s brother. This sends Prince Hamlet into a spiral as it would any functioning person. He is deeply saddened and his love, Ophelia, as well as the rest of his family, are worried about him. Hamlet becomes so erratic he ends up slaying Ophelia’s father, mistaking him for King Claudius. Ophelia is obviously extremely upset as her father was just murdered by her boyfriend. Claudius becomes worried he will expose his secret and has Prince Hamlet sent away to England to be assassinated. While he is gone, the Queen discovers Ophelia has drowned.Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, talks with the King and is furious with Prince Hamlet for the death of his father and now his sister. Prince Hamlet’s ship is invaded by pirates and he secretly makes his way back to England. With this news, Laertes and Claudius devise a plan to kill Hamlet. Laertes will battle him and put poison on his sword and as a backup plan Claudius will put poison in wine and offer it to Hamlet. During the battle Hamlet and Laertes switch swords and Hamlet is pricked by the poisonous sword in the process. Queen Gertrude drinks from the poisoned wine and then Laertes is cut and poisoned. The Queen drops as does Laertes and when Hamlet realizes what has

Mental disorder is a common term to refer people’s mental health conditions in Canada and internationally. People who have studied Hamlet, a play that’s written by William Shakespeare, know that Ophelia is one of the characters who suffer from a mental disorder, which known as major depressive disorder. At the beginning of the play, Ophelia’s mental state is very healthy, she falls in love with her boyfriend Hamlet, yet their relationship is controlled by her father. During the play, Ophelia experiences a transformation of her mindset, which causes by Hamlet. As the play closer to the end, the death of Polonius, father of Ophelia, makes Ophelia’s mental becomes more unstable, which leads her to suicide at the end. Thus, due to all the unhappy events that happen to Ophelia’s life all at once, the psychological harms slowly turn Ophelia becomes insane and eventually brings her to death.

Hamlet’s insanity can be thought of as a tragedy or misconception of reality. The death of his father had shaped the first few impressions of his own persona as well as a new experience with his new aunt. As  a result of his genius insanity prince Hamlet has devised a plan to make things more clear to the audience. “Hamlet’s behavior strikes the audience as abnormal on  several occasions. For example, Hamlet seems to be really mad when he is in front of Ophelia in disordered clothes. He behaves as if he had been loosed out of hell to speak of the horror”.  As the progress of the play foreshadows a significant end to his insanity that he acts upon.  As the play progresses throughout, Hamlet finds ways in order to give others the impression that he has lost his sanity from his “love” of Polonius’s daughter Ophelia. “(Ophelia)He grabbed me by the wrist and held me hard, then backed away an arm’s length and just looked at me, staring at me like an artist about to paint my

In contrast to Hamlet, Ophelia did in fact go crazy for many reasons, one being Hamlet’s madness. After “going mad,” Hamlet taunts Ophelia numerous times when he says things like, “I could interpret between you and your love,/ if I could see the puppets dallying” (Ⅲ.Ⅱ). It is Hamlet’s statements that leave Ophelia embarrassed and confused, which eventually lead her to madness. She becomes so distressed by the thought of Hamlet’s incapability to love her back. When Ophelia went mad, even a gentleman just passing by noticed how “she speaks things in doubt,/ that carry but half sense. Her speech is nothing” (Ⅳ.Ⅴ). When Ophelia loses it, she really goes insane. Her words only make sense “half” of the time as if she is only half there in her brain as well. Ophelia is pitied by most people who come into contact with her and when she dies, Gertrude justifies Ophelia’s death by saying that she was “incapable of her own distress” (Ⅳ.Ⅶ). The amount of pity that Ophelia received is so much that “Poor Ophelia” is mentioned twice in act four. While Ophelia’s madness becomes a pity party, Hamlet’s madness is seen as strange and unusual. Ophelia became mad because of her confusion inflicted by Hamlet.

In Shakespeare's Hamlet, there are two characters that display qualities of insanity.  They are Hamlet and Ophelia.  Although they both appear to be mad at times, their downfall (or supposed downfall) is quite different.  Ophelia's crazed characteristics show up and intensify quite rapidly, until she is ultimately led to suicide.  Her madness seems definite, and it is never questioned.  The insanity or sanity of the main character is an arguable question.  The issue can be discussed both ways, with significant support to either theory. Certainly, Hamlet has many reasons to lead him to becoming insane, because of the pressure and emotional strain that he is suffering from.  This might be enough to cause the character to become

Great authors can develop the same idea in different ways. Shakespeare introduces the characters of Hamlet and Ophelia to mental illness throughout “Hamlet”. Hamlet a, Depressed and Monomaniacal Psychopath, runs off of the vengeance of his father to kill his uncle, King Claudius. Ophelia A victim of, hysteria and depression, cannot function without the support of her father and lover without this support she can loses the will to live. Shakespeare uses metaphors, gender, tone, and word choice to develop the progression of mental illness in his characters throughout “Hamlet”.

There were various ‘treatments’ used in the span of history to treat those who were affected by anything regarding mental health. Psychology, despite being one of the youngest sectors of science has a very undeveloped, horrific history when it comes to participants. “Madness is a generic term that includes behaviors considered deviant. Deviance is always culturally defined, and varies markedly from society to society.” ("Madness and Culture."). In the play, both Hamlet and Ophelia are affected mental health disorders deriving from the deaths of loved ones yet they both dealt with it differently. Arguments regarding Hamlet’s mental state are made based off his encounter with his father's ghost as well as his general behaviour. Hamlet’s friends often worry that when Hamlet and his father meet “there [King Hamlet] assume some other horrible form, Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason And draw you into madness?” (1.4.71-73). Nonetheless, this worry was often disproved throughout the play. Being described as having a ‘crafty madness’ by Rosencrantz disproves his madness theory. Moreover, there are various instances where Hamlet confesses to faking his apparent decent. With statements such as “I am but mad north-northwest” (Shakespeare 2.2.386) or “...am not in madness, / but mad in craft” (Shakespeare 3.4.188-189) show that Hamlet is fully aware of himself and how others think of him, showing that his acts are done on purpose and he is, in

Another example of how Hamlet is truly insane is his treatment of Ophelia. “Others argue that Prince Hamlet goes over the edge into madness at times during the play. His treatment of Ophelia, a woman he had loved, is extremely cruel, and driver her to insanity and then death either though a mad accident or suicide.” (Shakespeare)Throughout the play Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia worsens. Ophelia was once Hamlet’s girlfriend and true love. After Ophelia randomly ends her relationship with Hamlet, Hamlet won’t accept it and starts to change his attitude towards her. Hamlet starts to use harsh language towards Ophelia and questions her decision many times. Hamlet doesn’t respect Ophelia and her decisions and thinks she’s a phony and has been throughout their entire relationship. Because of this, Hamlet begins to go mad and behaves mad, Due to Hamlet’s treatment and behavior Ophelia also begins to show signs of being mad and later this drives her to commit suicide. Hamlet also shows the theme of his madness after the killing of Polonius and his treatment of Ophelia by spreading his madness over to Ophelia. “The gentle

As the hesitation that Hamlet possesses affect both the plot and its characters, his madness also contributes to the death of many characters within the play, having a cause and effect system on their lives. For example, at the beginning of the play, Hamlet pretends to be insane in order to confuse the rest of the kingdom. In his state of “insanity”, Hamlet forces himself into Ophelia’s bedroom, behaving like a mad man, both insulting her and announcing that he is no longer in love with her. “I have heard of your paintings too, well enough. God has given you one face and you make yourselves another. You jig and amble, and you lisp, you nickname God’s creatures and make your wantonness your ignorance. Go to, I’ll no more on ’t. It hath made me mad. I say, we will have no more marriages. Those that are married already, all but one, shall live. The rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery, go.” ( Act 3, Scene 1, William Shakespeare) By doing this, Hamlet is able to convince many that his madness

Hamlet, a play by William Shakespeare, is as much a mystery as a tale about depression, madness and sanity. Shakespeare reveals how the scourge of corruption and decay rapidly spread; and the emotional consequences that follow. Insanity, madness and depression are as intolerable as corruption and deceit; and just as intertwined. The play makes one ponder if it is possible to be sane in an insane world full of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption? By examining the themes of melancholy, madness and sanity in Hamlet, Shakespeare details his character’s descent from depression to madness. Additionally, Hamlet’s psychological state can be