Mental Disorder In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Shakespeare's Hamlet is no stranger to dark, saddening themes and ideas. In this short play we, the reader, is faced with death, suicide and destruction of the minds of a mourning son and daughter. Each character is forced to recognize a deep part of themselves, which they hide from society. Throughout the entirety of the play, all characters seem to have some sort of a mental disorder or they have major flaws in their personality creating a sense of mystery and reclusiveness. Just because the characters have a “mental disorder” does this show the true personality they have or are they acting in ways due to tragic events that have happened?
One of the main characters in Hamlet, who seem to have the most problems with dealing with love, loss, …show more content…
When we first are in the presence of Claudius, we think he is a good, kind- hearted man who would do anything for his people, yet this good idea of him slowly dwindles as the story continues. Claudius hides a dark secret in which he murdered his own brother to obtain his crown, country, money and wife. He is a mastermind in lying, manipulation and covering his own tracks to get people to side with him and go against one another. The main character he manipulates is his wife, Gertrude. He is constantly lying to her and hides his secrets of killing Hamlet and how he killed his brother by telling Gertrude he loves her and that she is special to him. He uses sex in order to get what he wants, physically and as a ruler. During the middle of the play, we see Claudius praying, trying to rid himself of the sins he had committed. We get the sense that he may actually be a nice person, trying to undo his horrific past. However, his controlling nature takes over and he tries to kill Hamlet. Since Hamlet did not trust king Claudius, he refuses the poisoned drink offered by the king. This backfires for Claudius and he is left with the choice of death by suicide or by blade. Historically, a king like King Arthur or King Richard the third died in battle, fighting for what they believed in (www.heroofcamelot.com/legend/death-of-arthur.)(5). When you have a king die of a suicide, he is taking an easy way out of death; he is taking a pain free death from a de ath by blade. Claudius chooses suicide, however, we see the last bit of his personality die out with him. As he crumbles to the ground, he reaches for the hand of Gertrude, leaving the audience with a final sense that he indeed loved her and he did care about