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The Mentally Ill In William Shakespeare's Hamlet

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The mentally ill may feel veiled in the face of social pressure; Hamlet showcases the emergence of a society portraying corruption as sanity and love as an illness. Mournful of the past, distrustful of the present, and blinded from the future. Shakespeare draws questions about subjective perception versus objective reality left unconcluded for the tragedy to end with unsettling haste. The playwright manipulates relationships to die in toxic waste - allowing Hamlet to suffer in unclarity before his death, consciously aware of the venomous plague spreading through the royal family yet unaccepting of his own unreliable deductions. Hamlet’s distrust of family and friends and self, inability to act of to act efficiently, and lack of control of grief …show more content…

Despite Hamlet’s initial zeal for revenge, his thoughts turn self-destructive as his indecisiveness disables the royal leadership expected of him, and he doubts his fate in declaring, “ The spirit that I have seen/May be a devil” (Shakespeare 2.2.610-611). Not only does Hamlet question the validity of the ghost’s request, but he doubts his own mind and distrusts his ability to clearly identify and pursue the proper course of action in completing his dead father’s request while emotions cloud his perceptions. Being a part of the royal family of Denmark, Hamlet’s future and status remained predetermined until his uncle’s act of treachery stole the throne, creating an imbalance in Hamlet’s thought as he faces the task of reestablishing justice while testing his will. In the soliloquy that this quote derives from, Hamlet brutally denounces his own capabilities and reflects on all the weaknesses made evident in his distrust his own mind. Burden of thought resulting in obstructed and deviant communication further demonstrates Hamlet’s crowded mind. Quoting an excerpt of Michel Foucault’s Madness and Civilization, Alison Findlay elaborates on the meaning of Hamlet’s language

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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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His constant “thoughts of death or suicide”(Gwinnell 4), his “grandiose ideas”(Gwinnell 7), and his “inappropriate social behavior” (Gwinnell 7) allow the reader to diagnose Hamlet as depressed. The reoccurring theme of suicide is evident. Hamlet struggles with the question: “is it

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Demetri Bichara Ap Literature and Composition Mrs. Heppard 23 January 2023 Ap Exam 2023: Hamlet’s inability The theme of royalty in literature explores what many readers may wonder about, the mortality and ability of kings to properly govern their nations. However, the prominence of mental illness in people of royal status is something that is often overlooked. While heavy, this angle is important for examining ability and discussing mortality. People with mental illness deserve help and should not be neglected and subjected to the responsibility of major positions of power, even if they want it.

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Hamlet was role playing all throughout the book. He was acting crazy the entire time so that he could avenge his father's death. When Hamlet told his friends not to tell anyone if he acted a little weird after he saw the ghost. That was Hamlet's way of expressing that he was going to be acting crazy in order to avenge King Hamlet's death. So, basically, it's important to him because he needs to act insane in order to avenge his father's death.

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By verbally harassing Ophelia and estranging himself from her, Hamlet provides the apparent image of losing his prior care without a great amount of consideration. Additionally, Hamlet further displays his anger for his father’s death through this display. By dissolving his relationship with Ophelia, Hamlet furthers his image of insanity to further illustrate himself as incapable within Claudius’s eyes while still communicating distaste for his loss of his father. With Hamlet’s intentionally swift change of heart for Ophelia, Hamlet’s procedure warrants a certain level of sanity. Regardless of the sudden nature, Hamlet’s continual barring from Ophelia possesses procedure which causes further doubt of Hamlet’s mental instability from the audience of the

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Mental health is rarely portrayed in a positive light in o=modern media let alone in literature produced four centuries ago. That being said, many of Shakespeare’s plays can be analyzed for its depiction of various social issues, including the treatment of those with mental health exceptionalities. Shakespeare’s Hamlet explores mental health and the perception of mental health through characters such as the protagonist, Hamlet, and his love interest, Ophelia. Not surprisingly, Hamlet creates a damaging image of those with mental health exceptionalities and either portrays them as props for another character’s development, going through a “phase,” or as violent villains.

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After a month or two of analyzing Hamlet and the people around him, I feel like I can conclusively determine he suffers from a mental illness. But the question is what. What mental illness might he suffer from. There are hundreds of different mental disabilities. Each has endless possible ways of linking it back to Hamlet in some way, shape or form.

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Hamlet's Insanity Throughout the play, Hamlet’s madness changes from being an illusion and forms into a harsh reality. Even though he claims the reason behind him acting deranged is to disconcert King Claudius, his behaviour and actions towards other characters in the play really emphasize his insanity. As the play progresses, everyone becomes aware of his mentally ill state, including King Claudius, who sends him to England to have him killed. This way Hamlet won’t be able to reveal his corrupt ways. Hamlet's behavior begins to change drastically as the play advances.

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An overwhelming amount of evidence shows that Hamlet faked his insanity to confuse the king and his accomplices. Often revered for their emotional complexities, William Shakespeare’s tragic characters display various signs of mental illness. Sylvia Morris notes “Hamlet contains Shakespeare’s most fully-developed study of mental illness, and has always intrigued commentators on the play.” (“Shakespeare’s Minds Diseased: Mental Illness and its Treatment”). When looking at the play, one can infer that Shakespeare makes the relationship between sanity and insanity undistinguishable from one another.

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In the beginning of William Shakespeare’s introspective play, Hamlet’s first soliloquy finds him as a more melancholic and more desperate character. He faced conflicts involving himself, the people around him, and his environment–how the events that have occurred in his surroundings negatively influenced his character. In Act 1, after enduring an unpleasant encounter at his mother and Claudius’ court, then being asked by his parents not to resume his studies in Wittenberg and rather stay in Denmark, Hamlet starts to have his suicidal thoughts for the very first time. For Hamlet, existence itself is a burden; he desires for his flesh to ‘melt’ and wishes that God had not made ‘self-slaughter’ a sin. Hamlet, then characterizes the world as “weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable.”

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In everyone’s life there are situations that arise that shape us physically, mentally, and spiritually. These situations can help prepare us for the future or do damage to us. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main character Hamlet experiences many tragedies and heartaches within the story. These experiences obviously change Hamlet throughout the story, more specifically Hamlet’s mental health seems to become compromised. Specific experiences that affect Hamlet’s mental states is his father’s death, meeting the ghost, and his relationship with his uncle.

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A man named Ben Jonson once said, “If you be sick, your own thoughts make you sick.” Perhaps Jonson’s words could be used to support the claim that Hamlet, one of Shakespeare’s many creations, is potentially plagued with madness in the beloved play, Hamlet. During the era in which this piece of literature was written, diseases of the mind were not as understood or as simple to diagnose; therefore, the character, Hamlet, may have had conditions that went unnoticed, and there may have never been enough evidence to prove his possible illnesses until the 20th century. Nonetheless, by analyzing and interpreting the symptoms present throughout Hamlet, it is plausible to suggest that Hamlet was mad; in today’s terms, he could have been schizophrenic,

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As for the 1969 film adaptation of Hamlet, the only resemblance Nicol Williamson’s character bears to Hamlet is the name. This Hamlet shows no symptoms of depression or insanity whatsoever. Compared to Shakespeare and Tennant’s Hamlets, this version appears sane throughout the plot. When he gives his first soliloquy, which is supposed to be a moment of insight about Hamlet’s mental illness, he neither sobs or collapses onto the floor in visible anguish. Despite the language being the same as the original text, the audience does not gain any sense of suicidal tendencies or nihilism from Hamlet.

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In some literary works a character’s apparent madness is significant. Analyze the elements and causes of this delusional behavior, and discuss how this character’s condition contributes to the meaning of the work. One of the significant concerns of the play is Hamlet’s madness. Hamlet states that he is in fact not insane, however, his performance is so convincing that it is difficult to tell. Hamlet is asked to avenge his father's death, by the ghost of old King Hamlet.

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In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the perspective of Hamlet’s mental health is depicted through his actions and thoughts by pretending to be mad, and how other characters view him. The key theme of this play is that one’s mental health can cause an uproar of problems. I chose this as the theme because throughout the play you watch Hamlet make deranged decisions in his actions and the things he says to certain people. You also watch Hamlet go through his own grieving process by doing things that are mainly driven by his emotions from his father's passing, his mother Gertrude marrying his uncle, Claudius, and other conflicts he has with other characters throughout the play. Starting off in Act 1, Hamlet is struggling with the passing of his Father and

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