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Why Is Depression Important In Hamlet

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Within the play Hamlet a variety of events occur that could have psychological effects on a person. Hamlet clearly demonstrated signs of depression which could be linked to several events within the play, but can most likely be traced back to one event in particular. Many of the outburst can be due to losing his father while still at a young age. Although Hamlet is not a very young child, he is only entering the adult world. Many of the things he is experiencing, such as depression, manic episodes, and delusions can all be related back to the loss of his father. At times Hamlet is contemplating committing suicide to escape from the pain that he is feeling. Hamlet simply states, “to be, or not to be,” questioning whether he should continue to live or simply kill himself with the use of a dagger (Shakespeare 53). Throughout the play Hamlet expresses many emotions that can be linked back to his father’s death. Losing a parental figure at any point in life can be a very traumatic experience. Coming to the realization that the person whom has raised and taken care of you is no longer alive can have detrimental effects to a person’s physiological …show more content…

However, after about a year many think it is time for that individual to move on. Sadly, when a child loses a parent there can be everlasting damage to a child. The authors of “Differential Vulnerability to Early-Life Parental Death” states that children who lose a parent have long term psychological effects. Many of those who had a parent die from any cause later fell in to hard drugs or major depression. The study also showed that after a parental death a family was much more susceptible to suicide within the family. The major question many people have is, why can one person get over a death very fast but other have it follow them their whole life. The authors explain “the idea that health outcomes following a traumatic experience may

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948 Words | 4 Pages

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Shakespeare uses range of literary techniques such as soliloquies to express Hamlet’s depression and anger. Hamlet’s emotions play a crucial role to achieve his secret ambitions. Events such as King Hamlet’s death, Hamlet’s mother’s expeditious marriage, conflict between Hamlet and Ophelia. Hamlet’s depression and anger is expressed throughout the play but what are the causes. The root of Hamlet’s feelings of depression and anger was his father’s death.

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1105 Words | 5 Pages

Hamlet discusses his first suicidal thought, which shows Hamlets degree of depression. In this soliloquy, Hamlet is complaining that he cannot commit suicide and he wishes that his physical state (body) would melt away. During this scene in the play, Hamlet is still grieving his father’s death and controlling his rage towards Gertrude’s incestuous marriage to Claudius, Hamlet wishes to die himself and is having thoughts about suicide due to his melancholy state. Depression is the first symptom of dissociative identity disorder that causes or alters an individual’s personality. Audiences can observe that Hamlet is traumatized from his father’s death, which is causing his mental state to worsen.

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1598 Words | 7 Pages

Various psychological disorders can be applied to Hamlet, but the main ones include Borderline Personality Disorder, Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. Possibilities Observing Hamlet’s actions throughout the play, it is possible to say that he suffers from three major disorders, Borderline personality disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and Major Depressive Disorder. Borderline Personality Disorder (BDP) is a disorder identified when a person has difficulties in controlling emotions. According to NAMI, BDP includes symptoms such as “…severe, unstable mood swings, impulsivity and instability, poor self-image and stormy relationships” (nami.org). People who suffer from BDP frequently aim to avoid members of their family or friends.

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628 Words | 3 Pages

Like many things, Hamlet is intelligent and honorable, but his indecisiveness is the cause of his tragic downfall. In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare portrays that Hamlet is very incapable of finishing the task at hand. Throughout the drama Hamlet faces many trials and tribulations due to his late father Hamlet, who was murderously killed by Claudius. His inability to kill Claudius and himself is one grand flaw of an epic hero. After King Hamlets passing, Hamlet entered an unknown state of mind that not only feared others for his wellbeing, but also feared himself.

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1581 Words | 7 Pages

There are moments in this world where someone can be so depressed that they do not want to live any longer. Many teenagers experience the same stress as Hamlet did in the play from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The character Hamlet is under stressed due to the death of his father who he loved a lot, and the early remarriage of his mother with his uncle. In addition, Hamlet is even more stressed out when the ghost presented itself as Hamlet’s father and wanted Hamlet to revenge for his father’s death. Even though Hamlet is under stress he remained between the state of sane or temporarily insane throughout the play.

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He was to the point where he thought it would just be easier to die than to live with all these struggles. Hamlet’s uncle Claudius killed his father which put a huge burden on his shoulders because he loved his father so much. What made it even worse was his mom, Gertrude, ended up marrying Claudius short after King Hamlet 's death. After the king was murdered, Hamlet saw his father’s “ghost” which told him that Claudius was in fact the one that killed him and that he wanted Hamlet to seek revenge for him by killing Claudius, but not to punish his mother for remarrying. He said it is not his place to do so and that heaven will judge her when it comes time.

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402 Words | 2 Pages

He is later disgusted by his mother’s quick remarriage to his uncle, Claudius, almost two months after the death of his father who was also his mother’s husband. After Hamlet’s conversation with his father’s ghost in which Hamlet was told that his father was murdered by Claudius, he became filled with even more grief because he has a difficult duty of killing his uncle in order to avenge his father’s death. This is seen in the “to be or not to be” soliloquy.

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He is depressed and suicidal as indicated in his infamous quote, “To be, or not to be: that is the question.” (3.1.57). However, while many may choose to carry on after the death of a loved one, Hamlet chose to hold on to his sorrow and pretended to be mad so he can know the truth behind his father’s death. Hamlet’s tragic life is not the cause for his madness. Hamlet drives himself to the brink of insanity

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1533 Words | 7 Pages

Death is one of the most prominent themes in Hamlet, appearing in different forms. Shakespeare displays death through the suicide of Ophelia, Hamlet’s own thoughts and eventual suicide, and the murder of King Hamlet and Polonius. Hamlet displays suicidal tendencies throughout the play through his soliloquies. The first time that Hamlet contemplates committing suicide is when Gertrude and Claudius tell him that he has to stay in Denmark in Act one. “Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, or that the Everlasting had not fixed his canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!

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314 Words | 2 Pages

Suffering: Hamlet Hamlet, the tragic hero fits well into the instrument of suffering. The spreading of his suffering was due to his personal anguish. Within Hamlet there were many things that had caused his suffering, some of these reasons were due to his own personal plan for vengeance. Hamlet faced immense amounts of suffering within the play; his father had been murdered, his thrown had been stolen, and his mother was in an incestuous relationship with his father’s brother, who was the reason behind all of Hamlets suffering.

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1355 Words | 6 Pages

Pet Bereavement The relationship between people and animals has changed in the last 50 years. Animals who live with people have traditionally been called ‘pets’. They now tend to be referred to as ‘companion animals’. This change in terminology implies a mutual relationship between humans and animals which has been described as the ‘human-animal bond’.

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1844 Words | 8 Pages

Hamlet is William Shakespeare 's renowned tale of mystery, intrigue, and murder, centered on a young misguided prince who can only trust himself. Some may say that the actions of Prince Hamlet throughout the play are weak and fearful, displaying a tendency to procrastinate and showing an apathetic nature towards his family and peers. Others spin a tale of a noble young scholar, driven mad by the cold-blooded murder of his father by his uncle. In truth, I believe Hamlet is neither of these things. Hamlet is a sort of amalgamation of the two, a bundle of contradictions thrown together into one conflicting but very human mess of a character.

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1121 Words | 5 Pages

It has been speculated the Hamlet is supposed to be based on Hamnet’s name. However, Hamnet might not have been the only basis for Hamlet. Three months after Hamnet’s death Shakespeare’s father passed away. This is similar to Hamlet’s experience with death which included the loss of his father him being forced to see his mother remarry, the death of his love interest and subsequently the deaths of his mother, Laertes and himself. Shakespeare’s depression could have been caused by the loss of his family members both in his adult life and his young life when his sister Anne died at the age of seven while he was fourteen.

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1673 Words | 7 Pages

“Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” (I.v.90). Hamlet is about a young prince who is mourning the loss of his father. He then tries to seek revenge on his uncle Claudius because he poisoned his father. Throughout the play Hamlet’s behavior starts to change which causes him to become mad. The theory about all this is a Psychological Approach.

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880 Words | 4 Pages

Hamlet’s ability to overthink situations or decisions makes him conclude that committing suicide might be the easy way out of his indecisiveness. Hamlet overthinks every problem that is happening. He overthinks so much that he cannot make up his decision about what to do with the problem. The cluelessness that is going on within his mind makes him lose his mental status, life and the love of his life. Hamlets actions are hypnotized by his thoughts: “Thus Conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pitch and moment, With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action” (3.1.85-90).

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