Demise Of Ophelia And Psychotic Breaks In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Sadie DeCoster

Dr. M. Clermont-Ferrand

4-13-23

The Demise of Ophelia: PTSD and Psychotic Breaks in Shakespeare’s Hamlet Have you ever wondered why an author adds a character just to further the plot? Well William Shakespeare, in his play Hamlet, creates a character Ophelia who suffers from PTSD due to the murder of her father, Polonius, in Act 4 Scene 3. This ultimately leads her into a psychotic break where she experiences having disordered thoughts, speaking irregularly, and behaving inappropriately. Shakespeare created Ophelia to show how the events that occur in one’s lifetime can have a lasting effect on the people it impacts. To begin, to the demise of Ophelia, she suffers from PTSD which is, “An anxiety disorder that develops in reaction

Ophelia’s PTSD is presumably caused by the sudden murder of her father by the man she loved. However, the reason for Ophelia’s madness is something that many people also believe stemmed from her lovesickness over Hamlet. From the journal article “On Ophelia’s Madness” Carroll Camden explains why Ophelia may have fallen into her spiral. Although it doesn’t occur until after her father’s death many people believe it was Hamlet’s actions towards her that led her to a psychotic break. In the article it states, “Young people can usually regard the death of a parent with some degree of equanimity, but the death of their own prospects is quite another matter.”(Camden 253). Many people believe that the death of Polonius at one point could have brought Ophelia peace and

Ophelia first experiences disordered thoughts. Ophelia begins to speak delusional thoughts of her father, someone in charge of watching Ophelia states, “She speaks much of her father, says she hears there’s tricks i’ th’ world, and hems, and beats her heart, Spurns enviously at straws, speaks things in doubt That carry but half sense. Her speech is nothing, Yet the unshaped use of it doth move The hearers to collection.”(4.5.5-12). The gentleman in charge of watching Ophelia is telling the queen that Ophelia is not doing well. Ophelia talks about her father often and the things she says do not make sense which causes great amounts of concern. Throughout the scene when Ophelia is speaking to Gertrude, Claudius, and Laertes it is clear that she is suffering from disordered thinking. Some examples of this include, when Ophelia sings “They bore him barefaced on the bier, (Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny,) And in his grave rained many a tear. Fare you well my dear.” (4.5.188-191). Within this Ophelia’s thoughts are not coherent and are not making sense. Ophelia is not only continuing to talk about her father but it also seems as though she is trying to self soothe when she gets worked up. Laertes begins to question her and asks her if she has lost everything within her mind. Although it is clear that she is still just as much a human as she was before the condition of her