In Hamlet, the title character himself, Hamlet experiences several events that could potentially unravel anyone without a pre-existing mental illness. He returns from university to discover his father has been murdered, his mother remarried within weeks, and his uncle is now both his stepfather and his king. He decides to avenge his father per the request of his ghost, ends up stabbing the wrong man through a sheet, gets into a fight with his now deceased’s lover’s grave, and contemplates suicide. But does he suffer from manic depression? According to WedMD, “it is a form of major affective disorder, or mood disorder, defined by manic or hypomanic episodes (changes from one's normal mood accompanied by high energy states). It is a serious condition.
