Macbeth Paranoia Research Paper

Who has never avoided a crack in the sidewalk, fearful of breaking their mother’s back, or checked under the bed for monsters? These are two common instances of paranoia. These examples are docile in comparison to severe paranoia, which is recognized today as a disorder. Paranoid Personality Disorder (PPD) is defined by Psychology Today as, “A thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality” (2017). This disorder surfaces from distrusting and having suspicions of others, affecting the patient’s social and personal life immensely. Paranoia usually begins in early adulthood and studies have shown that it is most common in males (Cleveland Clinic, 2017). If doctors at that time would’ve properly examined the …show more content…
Due to the disorder, Macbeth is in constant fear and is paranoid that he will get caught for killing King Duncan. As a result, he kills everyone that knows something about the murder, which leads him to kill many innocent characters within the story. There are many symptoms of this disorder, but Macbeth specifically exhibits mistrust in others, hostile behavior, argumentative, and unreasonable suspicions of people. These types of behavior are shown through his interactions with different characters, which are directly related to his disorder. Had Macbeth been diagnosed with paranoid personality disorder in the story, he would have most likely been treated by a therapist. The therapist would help Macbeth learn how to trust people and not constantly have unreasonable suspicions about them. Even though this wouldn’t have cured Macbeth completely, it would have allowed him to cope with his disorder and hopefully make him stop murdering innocent people. Paranoid personality disorder plays a major role in Shakespeare’s