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Schizophrenia In Hamlet

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In The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare, Hamlet is confronted by a Ghost that commands him to kill the king as an act of revenge. In response to the Ghost’s wishes, Hamlet decided to create an antic disposition as a technique to help him achieve the vengeance his father's apparition desires. However, the underlying purpose behind his antic disposition is to disguise his authentic schizophrenia. Exhibiting auditory hallucinations—a symptom of schizophrenia—Hamlet is the only character in the play who can hear and communicate with the Ghost. As such, he experiences various and sudden changes in behavior and emotions, experiencing extreme anxiety, followed by extreme sociopathy within a matter of a few scenes. Consumed …show more content…

Shifts in emotion is commonly seen in Hamlet numerous times throughout the play when interacting with different characters. When conversing with his mother in Act Three Scene Four, despite his mothers pleas for Hamlet to stop, Hamlet is ruthless and unceasingly shouts about his dead father and his incestuous mother and step-father. Through the continuous shouting Hamlet intensely declares, “ A murderer and a villain, A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe Of your precedent lord, a vice of kings, A cutpurse of the empire and the rule, That from a shelf the precious diadem stole, And put it in his pocket” (3.4.99-102). Hostility and anger to his mother and Claudius is evident as Hamlet accosts his mother for her ill-willed relationship wither her dead husband's brother. Anger, being the most necessary aspect of Hamlet’s diagnosis, reveals that his shifts in emotion from an emotionless state to a state of sudden animosity. “Hostility and aggression can be associated with schizophrenia” is mentioned in the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Moreover, “aggression is more frequent for younger males” (DSM V, 101). Hamlet, a teenage boy in the Elizabethan Age, has a high probability is displaying aggression as a sign of schizophrenia, however, anger is common among a vast majority of the sufferers. Hostility, also, is what Hamlet genuinely feels, but is attempted to be disregarded as the antic

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Hamlet Journal 1 In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the main character Hamlet, appears to be insane, but his mistrust for his uncle and desire for revenge drives him “To put on an antic disposition on— / That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,” (I.v.181). He succeeds in convincing almost everyone around him that he is truly a mad man whose only cure is execution; however, he is enigmatic and ambiguous. By having an appearance of insanity and madness, Hamlet is able to use it to his advantage to achieve his own purpose of ridding his father’s murderer.

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Hamlet has been debated by various highly regarded literary scholars over whether he was acting mad or whether he was genuinely mad throughout the play. However, there is one passage that stands out, which can clear him of any accusations that he is indeed insane. Hamlet reveals to his friends his plans to act mad when he says, “How strange or odd some’er I bear myself/(As I perchance hereafter shall think meet/To put an antic disposition on) (1.5.190-192). Once Hamlet said this, it is concluded that Hamlet’s actions and statements towards others in the play— which made him seem insane— were only utilized as a ploy to prevent Claudius and other’s from finding of his recent interaction with the ghost and the information he provided Hamlet regarding his father’s death.

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“Hamlet”: the development of insanity of the main character Hamlet is the protagonist of the play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (or simply Hamlet) written by William Shakespeare. The man finds out his father was killed by own brother, who wanted to take the throne. Hamlet decided to take vengeance on for the former king. His actions led to the death of all main characters, including the prince himself. During the play readers can see changes in Hamlet’s behavior.

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The question of Hamlet's "antic disposition"(1.5.192) has long since been a point of scrutiny when discussing Shakespeare's Hamlet. Is his madness true or feigned? In the beginning of the story, Hamlet makes it clear that he plans to fake going insane in order to complete his mission in killing Claudius. The aspect of madness is often revealed through the madness of the characters throughout the story. Hamlet and Ophelia both are afflicted by madness.

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