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The Cause Of Depression In Shakespeare's Hamlet

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The term depression is the feeling of despondency and dejection. Depression is often caused by, “stressful events such as marital problems or the death of a loved one”(re:MIND). These events can happen at any age making the risk of depression common. Doctors still don’t know the exact cause of depression, but it can be genetically passed down making a child, teen, or adult more exposed to depression. Doctors usually have an easy time diagnosing depression by asking simple questions or during a yearly physical. Doctors may also do lab tests to check for certain medical conditions that may cause depression. There are all sorts of signs and symptoms of depression and most left untreated can go as far as committing suicide. These include uncontrollable …show more content…

One emotion in particular seems to pop up more often compared to some others throughout the play and that emotion being his deep depression. The signs of depression are highly noticeable throughout the play, making Hamlet seem highly potent to this mental disorder. Hamlet’s first sign of depression is when his father tragically passed away due to unknown causes at the time. He wore all black even at his mother’s marriage, to his uncle, still mourning his father’s death. His uncle went as far as degrading him, “How is it that the clouds still hang on you?”(I.ii.9). His uncle degrades him basically telling Hamlet to man up and get over it. Obviously, Hamlet didn’t take this well and just puts an even heavier weight on his shoulders making him sink into his depression faster. His mother remarried his uncle in only a month’s time. Not many take a parent remarrying well especially to their own uncle. At the time this play takes place the disorder known as depression was not known as a disorder or known really at all. There weren’t facilities like today to help diagnose depression and treated. In fact, facilities weren’t really aware of depression until the 21st century. This age was in no way shape or form kind to Hamlet for his

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we see prince Hamlet feeling far from cheerful due to his father 's death and his unstable family. He shows his hardships and loss of identity throughout the story, but we see it in-depth during his mourning phase when he can 't seem to deal with anyone. He goes to the people that he feels close to, the ones he can trust, and his perspective on life and maturity grow throughout the story. Adversity can at first leave us feeling a strong sense of emotion, people gradually take more control and act rationally and more stable. Hamlet is affected harshly with deep and dark feelings of thought and emotion when his father passed away.

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In Hamlet, Shakespeare presented Hamlet as the prince of Denmark. When he arrive his home, he found his beloved father, the king of Denmark, is already dead. Again, his mothers marriage with his uncle came to him bolt from the blue. It was unbearable for him to accept that his parents’ conjugal bed is being shared. Then the trauma started that ended into death.

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After a month or two of analyzing Hamlet and the people around him, I feel like I can conclusively determine he suffers from a mental illness. But the question is what. What mental illness might he suffer from. There are hundreds of different mental disabilities. Each has endless possible ways of linking it back to Hamlet in some way, shape or form.

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The Skull Jar William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet around 1600, telling the story of a prince dealing with the death of his father and the quick remarriage of his mother to his uncle. The play uses mental health, both real and faked, as a way to show human behavior. Commonly studied in high schools all over America, this tale has had a profound effect on the way mental health is viewed. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark tells the story of Hamlet, the young prince. When the play opens, his father has just died, and his mother has just married his father’s younger brother Claudius.

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He expresses his feeling in his “heart, for I must hold my tongue” (1.2.160). This is an important quote because it is important to understand because it allows to the reader to see that Hamlet cannot speak to anyone about how he feels. As an effect to his decision of not speaking out, this allowed for rage and discomfort to grow inside him which will be one of the main reasons as to why he is legitimately going insane. With these various stressors in his life, it gives more evidence and reasoning to why he often experienced constant signs of depression and suicidal thoughts. The signs of distress he showed throughout the play are highlighted tremendously since he experienced major signs of depression.

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Hamlet discusses his first suicidal thought, which shows Hamlets degree of depression. In this soliloquy, Hamlet is complaining that he cannot commit suicide and he wishes that his physical state (body) would melt away. During this scene in the play, Hamlet is still grieving his father’s death and controlling his rage towards Gertrude’s incestuous marriage to Claudius, Hamlet wishes to die himself and is having thoughts about suicide due to his melancholy state. Depression is the first symptom of dissociative identity disorder that causes or alters an individual’s personality. Audiences can observe that Hamlet is traumatized from his father’s death, which is causing his mental state to worsen.

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At the beginning of the play, Hamlet is melancholic and in a state of grief, which is not out of the ordinary because he is still mourning the loss of his father. After all, Hamlet was home from college and was growing into a nobleman.

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In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet struggles to cope with his late father’s death and his mother’s quick marriage. In Act 1, Scene 2, King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, and Hamlet are all introduced. Hamlet has just finished publicly speaking with his mom and the new king, and after he is interrupted by his good friend Horatio, who reveal the secret about King Hamlet’s ghost. Hamlet’s soliloquy is particularly crucial because it serves as his initial characterization, revealing the causes of his anguish. Hamlet’s grief is apparent to the audience, as he begins lamenting about the uselessness of life.

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Various psychological disorders can be applied to Hamlet, but the main ones include Borderline Personality Disorder, Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. Possibilities Observing Hamlet’s actions throughout the play, it is possible to say that he suffers from three major disorders, Borderline personality disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and Major Depressive Disorder. Borderline Personality Disorder (BDP) is a disorder identified when a person has difficulties in controlling emotions. According to NAMI, BDP includes symptoms such as “…severe, unstable mood swings, impulsivity and instability, poor self-image and stormy relationships” (nami.org). People who suffer from BDP frequently aim to avoid members of their family or friends.

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There are moments in this world where someone can be so depressed that they do not want to live any longer. Many teenagers experience the same stress as Hamlet did in the play from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The character Hamlet is under stressed due to the death of his father who he loved a lot, and the early remarriage of his mother with his uncle. In addition, Hamlet is even more stressed out when the ghost presented itself as Hamlet’s father and wanted Hamlet to revenge for his father’s death. Even though Hamlet is under stress he remained between the state of sane or temporarily insane throughout the play.

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It was hard for Hamlet to act crazy because he was still grieving over his father 's death and his mother not showing that she cares. Hamlet also lost Ophelia which makes his situation even worse than it was because he has no one in his. No family, no girlfriend, no one. Hamlet feels betrayed by his mother and feels like he can 't trust anyone. Shakespeare gives Hamlet these struggles in the play to amplify the mental and psychological events that make the reader feel bad about what all happened to Hamlet.

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1153 Words | 5 Pages

William Shakespeare tells the tale of a troubled man in his masterpiece, Hamlet. Imagine your beloved father dying and your mother marrying his brother shortly after. You’re left to grieve on your own. Instead of consoling you, your mother and uncle have a wedding and begin to share the same bed. This is what Hamlet suffers through in the play.

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1533 Words | 7 Pages

Can people choose their fate, or are we all at the mercy of circumstance? In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main character Hamlet shows that people are just a victim of circumstances. Hamlet was fine when his father was still alive; he only started going crazy when unexpected events in his life occurred such as; his father dying and his mother marrying his uncle. Hamlet is not to blame for his own downfall, how could he choose how his father dying would affect him. Hamlet is a Schizophrenic with the worst luck in the world.

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The leading force for Hamlet’s behavior to change is his mother marrying her dead husband’s brother two months later. In the play Hamlet states “O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason/ Would have mourned longer-married with my uncle,/ My father’s brother, but no more like my father” ( I.ii.150-152). This explains that Hamlet is frustrated because his mother moved on so fast and it seemed to him that she never really loved King Hamlet. Hamlet also claims that “Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,/That can denote me truly” ( I.ii.82-83 ). Hamlet is trying to tell his mother Queen Gertrude how he feels after the

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Depression can cause severe symptoms that can affect how you feel, think, and handle your daily activities. Depression is always accompanied by sense of suffering as well as the belief that escape from it, is hopeless.

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