Hallucinations In Hamlet

In the movie, “A Beautiful Mind,” the main character, John Nash, experiences constant hallucinations and believes his undercover work is in real life, despite it actually being all part of his own imagination. This affirms that victims of schizophrenia are unaware that their hallucinations and delusions have no reasoning to them in the eyes of others, such as their friends and family. This concept mirrors the lifestyle of Hamlet in William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, when he claims to be feigning madness. While one may argue that Hamlet is able to portray insanity as part of his plan to avenge his father’s death, Hamlet displays multiple symptoms of schizophrenia, including hallucinations, the will for isolation, depression, sudden aggression,

Having a lack of motivation explains his indecisiveness when he stalls the murder of Claudius. When Hamlet has the perfect opportunity to kill him, he wonders, “am I then revenged, / To take him in the purging of his soul, / When he is fit and season’d for his passage? / No. / Up, sword; and know thou a more horrid hent” (3.3.85-89). In this case, Hamlet is in the recovery phase; this comes after an active phase when the schizophrenic suffers from depression and other symptoms, including an inability to finish tasks, and less drive (camh.ca). Although Hamlet thinks it is better that he kills Claudius when he is not praying, he is just making excuses to put off avenging his father’s death once and for all. If Hamlet is ‘feigning madness’ like he claimed he is, all for the goal to kill Claudius, then he would have had the ambition and motivation to complete his task. In addition, Hamlet struggles with the meaning of his existence, and his suicidal thoughts also depict his lack of drive. An example that reveals his conflict of interest about life and death is when he says, “by a sleep to say we end / The heart-ache, [...] ‘tis a consummation / Devoutly to be wish’d” (3.1.62-65) Even though Hamlet talks about the advantages of death, his ambivalence from schizophrenia makes it challenging for him to make a

In particular, his desire to be by himself is evident when Polonius tries to converse with him while he is trying to read. When Polonius asks Hamlet how he is doing, he sarcastically replies, “Well, God-a-mercy,” and when Polonius asks Hamlet if he knows who he is, he answers, “Excellent well; you are a fishmonger” (2.2.170,172). Hamlet did not want to attract any attention when he was walking by, so he did not appreciate being interrupted from his reading. Therefore, he resorts to sarcasm and compares Polonius to a pimp when he cannot escape the attention. This is considered a negative symptom of schizophrenia because his lack of interest in socializing is not solely a form of introversion; Hamlet’s harsh behaviour is an attempt to hurt Polonius into leaving him alone instead of being reserved like an introvert (aipc.net.au). As well, his sarcasm acts like a mask that tries to distract Polonius from discovering his developing madness. Additionally, by confusing Claudius at the mousetrap play, Hamlet shows a disinterest in speaking to him. After the king asks how Hamlet fares, Hamlet purposely interprets what he asks as a question of what he eats, to which Hamlet answers, “Excellent, i’faith; of the chameleon’s dish: I eat / the air,” and this response leaves the king with little to say afterwards (3.2.92-93). The importance of this encounter is that not only is Hamlet