Theme Of Mental Illness In Macbeth

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In Acts II and III of Macbeth, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth both start to become psychotic, making it appear as if they are both mentally estranged. However, Macbeth starts to show clear signs of schizophrenia, which can be defined as “a disorder that affects a person's ability to think, feel, and behave clearly,” in acts II and III. However, one could think this is normal for Macbeth, who starts to murder his colleagues and friends in order to become the thane of Cawdor. Nevertheless, Macbeth appears to be the more psychotic character in acts II and III. For starters, in what appears to clearly show Macbeth’s mental illness, Macbeth starts to visualize objects that are not there, or hallucinate. For example, when Shakespeare says “Is this a dagger