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Essay On Mental Illness In Hamlet

1392 Words6 Pages

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. While he did claim to be putting on act and only pretending to be psychotic, part of me strongly believes that someone of
100% mental stability would not be able to pull off a psychotic act without a little mental illness helping lead the charge. I feel it is only fair to diagnose Hamlet with Bipolar Disorder. Online health blog, WebMD, defines Bipolar Disorder as a mental illness that brings severe high and …show more content…

Hamlet thought it was like his destiny to follow this ghost wherever it takes him. I know it sounds stretched, but I feel anyone who has an “urge” to chase down a ghost is clearly suffering from some kind of mental instability. Even Horatio was like
“Yeah that’s a very bad idea”, because he was scared the ghost would transform and scare
Hamlet off the edge of the cliff and fall to his death or scare him near the water and force him to drown to death.
Kalas 3
Another sign Hamlet showed of Bipolar Disorder was the following phrase from Hamlet;
“It is not very strange; for my uncle is King of Denmark, and those that would make mouths at him while my father lived give twenty, forty, fifty, a hundred ducats apiece for his picture in little.’Sblood, there is something in this more than natural, if philosophy could find it out”
(Hamlet 368). This quote is important because he seemed totally happy talking to his childhood friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern but then he seemed pretty quickly. He began to take severe shots at the people of Denmark by basically calling them fake and suck ups. He says they wouldn’t even give Claudius the time of day when Hamlet was King but as soon as King

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Would one be able to live a full prosperous life acting insane? The play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, is about a young prince who lost his father and has many issues dealing with his sanity and his family. Hamlet is not crazy because he says he is faking it, he may have severe depression, and he wants to avenge his father. Hamlet is faking being insane for his own sake.

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He is vulnerable to fits of rage, demonstrated by his murder of Polonius and his ridicule of his mother by calling her a “wretched, rash, intruding fool” (3.4 38). This emotional instability leads to poor judgment and rash decisions that could put Denmark in grave danger. An example of rash decisions in Hamlet is Claudius’ emotionally fogged decision to respond “It likes us well” (2.2.72) to Fortinbras’ plan to storm through Denmark to get a tiny piece of Poland, which ultimately allowed Fortinbras to take the throne. Moreover, Hamlet spends an unusual amount of time self-loathing “O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!” (2.2.577) and raging: “Contagion to this world.

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Having your father die is bad enough, but to have your mother marry your uncle, within a few weeks of your father’s death? Then to see the ghost of your dead father. That would drive anyone a little insane, but maybe not to the extent that everyone thought Hamlet was acting. Hamlet is torn between acting sane and letting everyone else see him as insane.

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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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There are many examples of times where Hamlet seems truly insane. We have the time when he is talking with Polonius in the castle, after the King, the Queen, and Polonius were discussing the love letter that Hamlet wrote to Ophelia. Hamlet walks in reading a book, and Polonius asks “What do you read, my lord?” Hamlet replies with “Words, words, words.” “What is the matter, my lord” “Between who?”

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An overwhelming amount of evidence shows that Hamlet faked his insanity to confuse the king and his accomplices. Often revered for their emotional complexities, William Shakespeare’s tragic characters display various signs of mental illness. Sylvia Morris notes “Hamlet contains Shakespeare’s most fully-developed study of mental illness, and has always intrigued commentators on the play.” (“Shakespeare’s Minds Diseased: Mental Illness and its Treatment”). When looking at the play, one can infer that Shakespeare makes the relationship between sanity and insanity undistinguishable from one another.

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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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The ghost also tells him that he fell asleep in the garden and Claudius poured poison in his ear to kill him. Hamlets fear about his uncle was true after all. “O my prophetic soul!” he cries (1.5.40). After finding out all this information, Hamlet was in a dark spot that lead him to acting insane to investigate the accusations that his father had made.

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(1.4.56b-62) This scene takes place as the ghost ask’s Hamlet to go off and have a private conversation, Horatio and Marcellus being concerned that Hamlet’s conversation will cause Hamlet to go mad, they deny the ghost’s request and attempt to convince Hamlet to deny as well. Hamlet gets aggressive and threatens Horatio and Marcellus to let him go, this is a sign that Hamlet is going through his grieving stage and why Hamlet wants to follow the ghost who appears to be his

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He is depressed and suicidal as indicated in his infamous quote, “To be, or not to be: that is the question.” (3.1.57). However, while many may choose to carry on after the death of a loved one, Hamlet chose to hold on to his sorrow and pretended to be mad so he can know the truth behind his father’s death. Hamlet’s tragic life is not the cause for his madness. Hamlet drives himself to the brink of insanity

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In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses many references to sanity and insanity. Throughout the play, Hamlet goes back and forth between sanity and insanity, whether pretending to be insane just to mess with those he does not like or to save himself from getting in trouble. Hamlet is actually one of the smartest characters in the play, which is why he can pull off acting crazy so well. Shakespeare uses this idea of sanity and insanity to help the plot change and take a different directions. One of the most discussed topics of the Hamlet is whether Hamlet is insane or if he was just pretending the whole time.

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I believe that Hamlet's madness is real. There's no way someone could go through what he went through and fake their madness. Although I believe Hamlet’s madness is authentic, I don't believe it took control of him. At the beginning of Hamlet his father King Hamlet was killed. He soon finds out that Claudius poisoned his father.

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Madness is often a symptom, and in the case of Hamlet this may be the reason behind his actions. The death of Hamlet’s father is the catalyst for Hamlet, causing him to see the ghost and ultimately become obsessed with the idea of revenge. A common theme for shakespeare is to explore a character’s mind and reasonings, and Hamlet’s character being mad was a perfect opportunity to continue this theme. Hamlet’s debatable madness, Ophelia being truly mad and the death of every character involved with Hamlet or his father is a prime example of tragedy, which Shakespeare is known for. While Hamlet’s madness is not certain, it is indisputable that the play Hamlet was built off of the idea of what is madness, and how does it affect one’s

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Throughout Hamlet, Prince Hamlet is faced against many situations that question his mental stability and ability to make decisions. His indecisiveness comes from the way he reacts to the situations he is put in and the way his mind presents these situations to him. The most important indecisive moments are Hamlet’s suicidal thoughts, his father’s ghost, and his vengeance to Claudius. When Hamlet is told by a ghost that has a resemblance of his father that Claudius had killed him, he vows to take vengeance and revenge his father’s death.

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Hamlet is William Shakespeare 's renowned tale of mystery, intrigue, and murder, centered on a young misguided prince who can only trust himself. Some may say that the actions of Prince Hamlet throughout the play are weak and fearful, displaying a tendency to procrastinate and showing an apathetic nature towards his family and peers. Others spin a tale of a noble young scholar, driven mad by the cold-blooded murder of his father by his uncle. In truth, I believe Hamlet is neither of these things. Hamlet is a sort of amalgamation of the two, a bundle of contradictions thrown together into one conflicting but very human mess of a character.

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