Madness in Hamlet

DRAFT- NOT MLA-LACKS FORMATTING/REFERENCES sm each(prenominal) town-black bile, ferocity and Sanity crossroads, a bout by William Shakespeargon, is as much a mystery as a tale about depressive disorder, madness and saneness. Shakespe are reveals how the scourge of corruption and molder rapidly spread and the frantic consequences that follow. Insanity, madness and natural depression are as intolerable as corruption and deceit and hardly as intertwined. The play makes one ponder if it is executable to be sane in an crazed world full of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption?By examining the themes of melancholy, madness and sanity in juncture, Shakespeare details his characters descent from depression to madness. Additionally, settlements psychological state washbowl be canvass by utilizing modern psychological diagnoses, in order to understand his genial state. passim the story, village exists in a melancholy state, essentially not in madness, / But mad in cra ft (3. 4. 204-205). hamlet states to Horatio as I perchance hereafter shall think meet/ To put an antic thirst on in order to deceive the king that he is insane (Act I, Scene V, take out 190).However, was settlement acting or was he already psychologically disturbed? Did small town go mad in the end, or was Hamlet insane from the start of the play, and his mental condition only turn as the play unfolded? The world in which Hamlet existed appears hostile. The king is a send offer his mother the queen lusts after her deceased husbands brother friends spy and deceive one another and Hamlets lover Ophelia literally loses touch with reality. Hamlet believes that only suicide can free him from his misery. Hamlet is not the only person struggling with depression.From the beginning, Francisco says, Tis pungent cold, / And I am sick at heart. Marcellus states that Something is rotten in the state of Denmark (). Fear is spread by the ghost of King Claudius erratic the city streets . Reoccurring themes of corruption result in Hamlet stating The dram of curse / Doth all the noble substance of a doubt / To his own dirt (Shakespeare 51). One evil person can contaminate an entire kingdom. As the kingdom decays, emotional trauma increases. Hamlet concludes that the world Tis an unweeded garden / that grows to seed.Things arrange and gross in nature / Possess it merely ( ). The weeds face decay in a world of evil and sin. The things are symbolic of man and his temporary dominance over himself, his fellow man and nature. Pessimism permeates the screenplay and the lector is led to connect the dysfunction with the resulting mental states of depression that infect Hamlet. Hamlets psychological status can also be analyzed from a modern perspective. Today we ask the diagnostic tools to identify and serve the disorders that afflicted Hamlet.Though Hamlet presents as melancholy throughout the play, there are three additional disorders that afflict Hamlet including p ost-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenic psychosis, and bipolar depression. terzetto traumatic events contri preciselye to Hamlets descent into madness the finish of his father, the incestuous marriage between his uncle and mother, and the disco very of his fathers murder by Claudius. These emotional traumas contributed to Hamlet suffering from what we would now diagnose as Post-traumatic stress disorder.Post-traumatic stress disorder (posttraumatic stress disorder) is characterized by the inability to properly seduce emotional appropriate responses to situations and an emotional blunting. Throughout the play, Hamlet had issues with people in his social circle. Hamlet becomes enraged with Laertes because of his dramatic sorrow over the ending of Ophelia (Act V, Scene I). Soon thereafter, Hamlet realizes his reaction to Laertes was impertinent and later apologizes to Laertes. Hamlet demonstrates impulsive behavior and lashes out at people without considering the ramificat ions.In addition to Laertes, Ophelia, Hamlets beloved, is also not immune to his rage. Hamlet is susceptible to super reactive emotional responses, and suicidal ideation is mentioned throughout the play. Symptoms of PTSD often let in changes in self-perception, relationship stressors, and frequently revenge fantasies. Hamlets emotional state deteriorates over the duration of the play. These changes include increased helplessness and the inability to make decisions as he becomes more ill. Hamlet exhibits other PTSD symptoms. Hamlet feels inferior to Fortinbras and Horatio, and in his attempts to kill Claudius.Hamlet also isolates himself and becomes more paranoid as the play progresses. Not that being paranoid would be an inappropriate emotional response to the environment he is in, but his paranoia takes over. Eventually Hamlet becomes obsessed with revenge after he is compelled by his fathers ghost to avenge his death. Symptoms of schizophrenia also present in Hamlet. The symptoms of schizophrenia can include hallucinations, isolation from others, a loss of reality and paranoia. spot berating his mother about her rapid remarriage, suddenly Hamlet begins addressing an c at oncealed specter. What would your gracious figure? QUEEN Alas, hes mad (Act III, Scene IV, Line 116-117). Hamlet has visions, or hallucinations, of his dead fathers ghost. The ghost was seen once by Horatio and some guards at the start of the play, but not by anyone else. The appearance of the ghost may keep been reality or a hallucination. However, the second ghost to appear, that only Hamlet could see and hear, was confirmation of Hamlets insanity. Schizophrenia is often symptomatic with visual, but more usually auditory hallucinations. After the death of Hamlets father, Hamlet began to trace and became reclusive in nature.He didnt combat be forced to relinquish to boarding school, he spent less time with Ophelia, and he became very isolated. Hamlet appears to have been in the ini tial stages of schizophrenia where the real and fruitless become blurred, but he is not yet incapacitated by his disorder prior to his murder. Perhaps if he didnt die youthful the disease would have progressed. Even Polonius questioned Hamlets state-of-mind when he said, How enceinte sometimes his replies are a happiness that often madness hits on (Act II, Scene II, Lines 213-215). Throughout the play, evidence of bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression) is identified.It is hard to distinguish if Hamlet is bipolar or having a schizophrenic break since both diseases have parkland behavioral features. bipolar disorder is known for manic or escalated behaviors coupled with severe depression when the mania recedes. Manic behaviors include pressured (or rapid) speech, grandiose beliefs, insomnia, and hyper or frantic behavior, followed by periods of extreme anergic depression that is emotionally and physically debilitating. Hamlet escalates between periods of fermentation a nd kinetic activity to states of absolute misery and unproductivity.Hamlet procrastinates, but it may be due to the depressive period he cycles in and out of. Hamlets soliloquies all contain themes of suicide and hopelessness (depression), but his manic states are more difficult to define. Hamlet creates a plan to prove Claudiuss guilt while justifying his own rage and revenge. When Hamlet discovers that the players are approaching to the castle, he rapidly goes from melancholy to a state of over-excitement. He becomes highly focused and implements a detailed plan to kill Claudius. Hamlet speedily abandons his plan and slips back into his depression (sparing Claudius).If Hamlet was able to execute all of the schemes and plans he devises, the play would be chaotic. Another incident suggests another bipolar episode when Hamlet, on the boat to England, facilitates the execution of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and also plans an attack on a pirate ship for revenge. Grandiose thoughts a re a common feature while in a manic phase. Hamlet chop-chop forgets or fails to follow through with his plan and falls back into a depressive state. Hamlets manic depression is referred to as rapid cycle because the mania and depressive states change quickly.Ultimately, Hamlet may not be procrastinating at all wish is assumed throughout the play. Hamlet may be incapable of fulfilling his grandiose plans while in a depressive state. In Hamlets time people had no concept of mental malady or mood disorders. People believed that behavior was deliberate and labeled unaccepted behaviors as character defects. Hamlet was a deeply disturbed individual. indite Gertrude Morin suggests that a cognitive approach be used to understand Hamlet. Hamlet, Morin says, is a portrayal of a tortured, down(p) young man who loses his way in the labyrinth of his negative thoughts. He not only suffered from negativity, mania and depression the environment in which he lived was highly dysfunctional for anyones mental health, let alone an ill man. At the beginning of the play, Hamlet is depressed but the events that develop during the play exacerbate his descent into madness. Not some(prenominal) people in the Kingdom of Denmark escape the toxicity of the world in which they lived. Ophelia may have suffered the most, and was also tormented by Hamlets illness, and eventually by saw no other option but to end her life. Depression and despair seemingly became as contagious as the small pox- and just as untreatable.Hamlets mental state and the events in his life may have finally drove him to madness. The reader may first believe that Hamlet is faking his dementia, when in fact, his mental dysfunctions were both total (of biological origin)and very real. Among the mentally ill it is common to see a mentally vulnerable individual succumb to the pressures of his environment. That person may have been able to keep their illness in check in a stable environment, but when external stressor s mount- they may not have the bed behaviors to cope and they escalate out of control.Suicide, in our modern world, is often a result of life stressors the vulnerable person could no longer manage. Had Hamlet not been murdered, his suicidal impulses may have caused him to self destruct. Psychiatry was just emerging as a science during the time Shakespeare wrote Hamlet. Robert Burton, the most celebrated author on melancholy from the Renaissance, first published his Anatomy of Melancholy in 1621. Burton, who was afflicted with melancholy himself suggested treatments from taking hellebore to boring a hole in the skull to let out the fuliginous vapours, while adding his consolations (Burton ).Had Hamlet legitimate the services of Burton, it is probable that if the hellebore didnt work, the hole in the skull would have left Hamlet disabled or dead. In conclusion, the question persists Is it possible to be sane in an insane world full of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corrupti on? It appears that the majority of people is somewhat resilient and can cope with adversity to a certain degree. However, there are people like Ophelia and Hamlet who are vulnerable to chaotic conditions. These people tend to attribute the trauma and dont have the coping mechanisms to deal with hot emotional situations.It is fascinating that Shakespeare had the insight to connect intolerable conditions with states of mental vulnerability. Madness was a catch-all term for all mental disorders in Shakespeares time, but through his dialogue and scenery, he was able to identify numerous mental states of dysfunction- centuries before we had terminology to describe these illnesses in diagnostic terms. Shakespeares distinctness in describing a mentally-ill prince is why Hamlet has endured over time. The issues, diseases, desires, fears and dreams remain ceaseless over time among humanity. To be, or not to be will constantly be relevant in more ways than life and death. Our views on m ental illness and physical ailments that relate to Melancholia are endless, and therefore so is our application of each possibility to Shakespeares work of Hamlet. Sources Diagnostic manual of arms DMV-IV Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy. Ed. Floyd Dell and Paul JordanSmith, NewYork Tudor Publishing Co. , 1941. Morin, Gertrude. Depression and prejudicial Thinking A Cognitive Approach to Hamlet. Mosaic A daybook for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 25. 1 (1992) 112.