Suicide in Shakespeare 's Tragedies: A Thematic Analysis That state of mind, whether healthy and normal or unhealthy and abnormal, which leads an individual to the commission of self-murder, was one not likely to escape the careful observation and comment of the great psychologist of the sixteenth century ; therefore, scattered throughout the whole extent of his works, we find allusions to this subject, characterized by that deep, philosophical, and comprehensive knowledge of the motives and mainsprings of human action, which, as we have taken occasion frequently to remark, places him preeminently above all others of ancient or modern times. Some of the greatest minds have contemplated this subject; many of them, alas! viewing it through the dark, dismal shadows of their own sad experience. One of the greatest minds of modern times has been brought to bear upon …show more content…
Moreover, it was not his purpose either to furnish us a philosophy of suicide, or to regard the subject from a scientific point of view and as the result of a certain diseased mental process. He certainly was not the man to sit upon a coroner 's inquest, and pronounce upon oath a verdict of "temporary insanity" upon every case of suicide that came up. This is a psychological refinement reserved for modern times, and one of the things " not dreamed of " in his psychology. Therefore, all his principal suicides, as it will be observed, perpetrate the crime in their natural, at least, if not in their sober senses. Prominent among these stands Othello, a character which we think could not have been rendered insane by any combination of moral