Mental Illness In Hamlet Essay

From Madness to Healing: The Journey of Hamlet’s Mental Improvement
Since the dawn of time and until the end of time, humans have struggled with mental illness. Although this problem is not new, it has not been discussed openly until recently, as throughout history it was looked upon as a punishment or curse from God. This left people to struggle on their own, which leaves the question of how people handled mental illness throughout history. Hamlet mainly explores mental health and gives the audience a glimpse of what it was like to live with this condition and how people were treated throughout history. In the tragedy Hamlet written by William Shakespeare, the Prince of Denmark starts to exhibit madness, but gets mentally healthier as he stops

First at the beginning of the play Hamlet is openly mourning the death of his father, but feels as if no one cares or understands him when he is to that he is acting foolishly by Gertrude when she tells him “Do not for ever with thy vailed lids / Seek for thy noble father in the dust: / Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die,” (Shakespeare 1.2.70-73). As his mother, the person closest to him, shows no sign of caring, Hamlet feels as though no one is interested in him or his struggles. He keeps to himself throughout the play when he faces mental struggles because of the lack of care from the people around him. In addition Hamlet feels abandoned and isolates himself from those closest to him because he does not feel able to talk to them. He finds a place where he is alone and proclaims “To be, or not to be: that is the question:” (3.1.57). Hamlet is so alone that he would rather contemplate suicide by himself than confide in someone close to him for fear of judgment and not being understood. He believes that talking about heavy topics alone is the best option, which shows how much he has isolated himself. Despite Hamlet alienating himself throughout the play, by the end he has improved so drastically that he is able to express his emotions to others. He is

While the play begins, he is suffering from grief and depression, but he does not feel able to express himself to others, so he pretends to be insane. This causes him to conceal his true joyful and peaceful personality. It starts when Ophelia explains to her father, “...I was sewing in my chamber, Lord Hamlet,… [looked] as if he had been loosed out of hell” (2.1.78-79,84). As he knows his mother, Claudius, and those close to him will learn about it and believe that he is insane because of love and not because of mental illness, Hamlet pretends to be insane in front of her. He does not want people finding out about his issues, which is common for people suffering from such illnesses. Despite Hamlet trying his best to shield himself, there are multiple instances in the play where his true personality and sense of self is visible. As the actors prepare to perform the play he has written, he coaches them in an excited manner and says “Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion / be your tutor” (3.2.16-17). His disguise deteriorates as his mental health slowly improves. He is passionate about literature and plays, so his excitement surrounding the actors is too much for his fading facade to contain. This demonstrates that Hamlet is improving and cannot always maintain the disguise. Furthermore the false identity he created is gone when he