It is believed that Shakespeare also uses the element of insanity to create drama, keep readers engaged or even to draw attention to mental health. Shakespeare uses advanced language and in order to keep readers or audience members engaged in the events of the plays insanity could be a useful tool. Some people believe that Shakespeare used insanity in his plays to bring attention to the issue of mental health. This is a respectable assumption, because several of the issues that Shakespeare felt strongly about often appear in his plays. However, although these could play a role in why Shakespeare used insanity as such a big element in many of his plays, insanity wasn’t used in his plays to solely provide one service and “it is unwise to accept or portray the symptoms of madness in Shakespeare as a purely medical condition” (Madness). Insanity does contrast characterization, but it also is used in many other ways in Shakespeare’s tragedies. (Quote)-1more …show more content…
Insanity is used in the plays Hamlet and Macbeth. It is used to contrast between characters and to contrast the characters’ mind set as they change throughout the play. The characters in these plays endure a stressful trigger that results in the deterioration of their mental state. All the characters’ trigger is murder. However, in Macbeth it is the same murder that triggers Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In Hamlet, it is a different murder for each character, however, in both cases it is the death of a father. These triggers and others create an extremely stressful situation for the characters and their psyche. Each character handles the stress in a unique way and falls in insanity at a different pace. This makes is easy for a reader to realize the contrast between the characters and to realize when they were going