“Much Madness is divinest Sense/ to a discerning Eye/ Much Sense- the starkest Madness.” (Dickinson 1-3) Creating a successful work of literature or media requires the ability to develop a character with a multitude of depth for the audience to find relevance with. Depending on the era, this task changes its demanded qualifications to gain success with the demographics of the period. One man has conquered time barriers and fabricated characters and plays that to this day maintain their popularity and relevance. Shakespeare, the man behind Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet, created characters that were sympathized by everyone but yet never fully understood. He had the ability to depict characters with his own “discerning eye” that
…show more content…
Due to it being two months after the death of his father, Hamlet can be classified as moving from Acute Stress Disorder to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. The best example proving his symptoms include his famous soliloquy, “To Be or Not To Be” as the thoughts of suicide evidently describe a PTSD patient. Other symptoms prevalent are negative feelings towards others. Hamlet has negative feelings towards everyone who was in the vicinity of his father’s murder: Ophelia, Claudius, Polonius, and the Queen. He even tells Ophelia “get thee to a nunnery”.................. These negative feelings ultimately contribute to the demise of his previous relationships. Also, Hamlet has symptoms of irritability, outbursts, and aggressive behavior. Polonius’s death is due to Hamlet being irritated by the idea of a spy and his reaction, an aggressive outburst. Lastly, Hamlet has the symptom of overwhelming shame. He constantly feels like he is at odds with himself and that he has let down his father as seen at the end of act two scene two. “Yet I, a dull and muddy-mettled rascal peak like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, and can say nothing… Am I a coward?” (Act II Scene II lines …show more content…
Other characters such as Claudius mirror their actions off of Hamlet’s. Each and every move and countermove is solely placed upon outwitting and out timing Hamlet. This influences the play by concerning the reader with Hamlet’s pursuit of revenge while partially ignoring the other characters. A play that could have been written about the reign of Claudius and his fraudulent acts was shifted to a son of a dead king. Why would Shakespeare tell the tale of Hamlet and not someone of greater action like Claudius? At the age of 11, Hamnet, son of Shakespeare, passed away. This coincidental name holds a deeper meaning. Hamlet is Shakespeare and Shakespeare is Hamlet. It is natural for a writer to portray himself in his works and Shakespeare is of no difference. After the passing of his son to the plague, he writes Hamlet soon after. Both Hamlet and Shakespeare could have suffered PTSD from a death completely out of their control. Yet, both deaths resulted in feelings of guilt. Shakespeare felt guilty for his absence in his son’s life where Hamlet’s guilt was due to the nature of the murder of his father. Both also could have had a high functioning mind well beyond their years that forces them into philosophical ideas. Shakespeare could have told Hamlet’s tory as a way describe how he felt when he did not have
Due to it being two months after the death of his father, Hamlet can be classified as moving from Acute Stress Disorder to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. The best example proving his symptoms include his famous soliloquy, “To Be or Not To Be” as the thoughts of suicide evidently describe a PTSD patient. Other symptoms prevalent are negative feelings towards others. Hamlet has negative feelings towards everyone who was in the vicinity of his father’s murder: Ophelia, Claudius, Polonius, and the Queen. He even tells Ophelia “get thee to a nunnery”.................. These negative feelings ultimately contribute to the demise of his previous relationships. Also, Hamlet has symptoms of irritability, outbursts, and aggressive behavior. Polonius’s death is due to Hamlet being irritated by the idea of a spy and his reaction, an aggressive outburst. Lastly, Hamlet has the symptom of overwhelming shame. He constantly feels like he is at odds with himself and that he has let down his father as seen at the end of act two scene two. “Yet I, a dull and muddy-mettled rascal peak like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, and can say nothing… Am I a coward?” (Act II Scene II lines …show more content…
Other characters such as Claudius mirror their actions off of Hamlet’s. Each and every move and countermove is solely placed upon outwitting and out timing Hamlet. This influences the play by concerning the reader with Hamlet’s pursuit of revenge while partially ignoring the other characters. A play that could have been written about the reign of Claudius and his fraudulent acts was shifted to a son of a dead king. Why would Shakespeare tell the tale of Hamlet and not someone of greater action like Claudius? At the age of 11, Hamnet, son of Shakespeare, passed away. This coincidental name holds a deeper meaning. Hamlet is Shakespeare and Shakespeare is Hamlet. It is natural for a writer to portray himself in his works and Shakespeare is of no difference. After the passing of his son to the plague, he writes Hamlet soon after. Both Hamlet and Shakespeare could have suffered PTSD from a death completely out of their control. Yet, both deaths resulted in feelings of guilt. Shakespeare felt guilty for his absence in his son’s life where Hamlet’s guilt was due to the nature of the murder of his father. Both also could have had a high functioning mind well beyond their years that forces them into philosophical ideas. Shakespeare could have told Hamlet’s tory as a way describe how he felt when he did not have