Schizophrenia In Hamlet

The struggle is real Twenty years ago most people thought that if you had a psychological illness or condition that you belonged in a mental hospital. They would avertedly ignore the ones that suffered. But the truth is many Americans suffer from such conditions such as: bipolar and schizophrenia. In fact, the Mental Illness Statistics, 2.4 million American adults 18 and older are diagnosed with schizophrenia. The surge of awareness is mid blowing. Literary artists have been showing us this adversity for decades; combining real life struggles and eccentric fantasies. One of the great illustrators of this was William Shakespeare and he is very formative on the signs of the aforementioned illnesses in one of his most famous play “Hamlet.” In …show more content…
All these events lead to the onset of Hamlet’s disorder: schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a “chronic disorder” that is known to cause it’s victims to have “hallucinations,” “hostility or suspicious” behavior towards others, and “major depression” (Smith & Segal 1). References to Hamlet’s off behavior is mentioned often within the play by his mother and many other minor characters. The young, misguided prince signs of these symptoms, by no means, in a mediocre way throughout Shakespeare’s play. Hamlet displays his depression and adverse feelings by continuously having thoughts of suicide: as in, “to be, or not to be” (Shakespeare 138) monologue; where he is battling weather to live or die. Furthermore, Hamlet continues to display “odd behaviors… speech” and even major “disillusions” (Smith & Segal1). Hamlet’s visions of the ghost shed more light on his “condition” (Smith & Segal 1), and makes him feel abysmal when his mother refers to him as “he’s mad” (Shakespears