Depression In Hamlet

In William Shakespeare 's play, Hamlet, we are introduced to the lead protagonist, Hamlet. Hamlet is a multi-dimensional character who goes through a dramatic transformation throughout the play. We ourselves will never know who Hamlet truly is, throughout the play we are told Hamlet is not acting himself. He is written to be human, a complex, changing character. In this essay i will discuss some of his characteristic in the play.
One facet of Hamlet 's character is his manic depression. Manic depression, more commonly known as bipolar disorder nowadays, is periods of feeling overly depressed followed by periods of over excitement. This is something that worsens gradually in the play. The first appearance of his gloomy, isolated character is

People with depression are often at risk of attempting suicide. We are shown the true extent of his depression during his soliloquies, his first soliloquy is in Act 1, Scene 2: “O! that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!” Here he states he wishes his flesh would melt off and he could die. This scene also conveys his fear of god and the afterlife, the only reason he doesn 't is that god might punish him for it. He fears that his mental anguish might cause him to suffer for eternity in the afterlife. Another example, which is more famous, is his “to be or not to be” soliloquy in Act 3, scene 1. He questions: “is it better to be alive or dead?” in my opinion this is his first proper through of suicide, he lists the cons and pros of killing himself and decides against it. The soliloquy conveys his image of life and it isn 't good, he thinks life is full of suffering, humiliations, abuse and

We are told throughout the play that Hamlet is not himself lately, Hamlet himself says: “I have of late - but wherefore i not not- lost all my mirth forgave all custom of exercises”. We know Hamlet as a melancholic character, but it is implied his is actually a very enthusiastic character usually. In Act 5, Scene II, Claudius says he is loved and respected by the people of Denmark: “he was likely, had he been put on, to have prov’d most royally” and In Act 3, Scene I, Ophelia says hamlet had been a soldier and a scholar: “the glass of fashion and the mould of form”. Originally he loved life, enjoyed fencing, the theatre and world adventure. Hamlet has been triggered by the murder of his father and his mother 's remarriage to his uncle. He has begun to question his morals and the nobility of mankind. He has developed a bitterness towards the world, describing it as “weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable”, it is “an unweeded garden”. His mother is a large part of his life and so when he described “the world” he could be talking about his mother. He is disgusted by his mother for remarrying to her brother in law. He tells her in Act II, Scene IV: "Mother, you have my father much offended. She seemed to love him, yet she supposedly fell in love with his brother? Perturbed at this rash, almost incestuous act”. He believes she lied to his father about her love, otherwise she would not have fallen in love with