In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, the theme of madness due to repressed emotions in response to trauma is primarily introduced through the development of Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark. The definition of madness in this tragic play is “associated with the disastrous inability to control emotional impulse” (Levy 83). Due to advances in understanding the human psyche, Hamlet’s “aware[ness] of his instability” (Lidz 60-67) is perceived as the natural process of grief and bereavement. However, this process is disrupted due to the lack of communication in a society that perceives aggressive display of emotion as madness. As a result of society’s lack of understanding the process of grief post-trauma and worsening the malady, Hamlet’s short-term depression
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The funeral bak’d meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables. Would I have met my dearest foe in heaven or ever I had seen that day, Horatio” (I. ii. 180-182) in response. His “snide remarks” (Perry 259-263) and haunted appearance during Claudius’s coronation shows his subtle rebellion of his situation, which is merely the beginning stage of overcoming grief post-trauma. Although, Hamlet shows healthy signs of grief and expression of his emotions in the beginning of the play, since he “cannot transpose suffering into language” (Findlay 189-203) as he is “expected to assimilate sudden changes in his relation to the world” (Perry 259-263). With the sudden thrust of being forced to recover after two months of his father’s death, Hamlet uses “wordplay as a smokescreen that he throws up deliberately, a form of passive resistance” (Perry 259-263). Since Hamlet has no one to rely on that will be able to understand his emotions, he relies on himself. Expressing himself through long soliloquies, he realizes the “importance of speech as a means of rational control” (Findlay 189-205) which, ironically, makes him a “prison[er] of his mind” (Aldus 209-215), since the “feeling is confined in a nutshell; it presses severely on the mind” (Aldus 209-215). With no external emotional support to add new emotions and rational thoughts, Hamlet, who has been “schooled in contemplation” (Levy 83), uses language to assuage his pain. However, the “need for language to construct sanity… but cannot escape his awareness of its essential folly” (Findlay 189-205). His thoughts become endless cycles and due to his inability to assuage his pain without external support in these critical moments, Hamlet remains in a stagnant mourning state which digresses his depression to
The funeral bak’d meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables. Would I have met my dearest foe in heaven or ever I had seen that day, Horatio” (I. ii. 180-182) in response. His “snide remarks” (Perry 259-263) and haunted appearance during Claudius’s coronation shows his subtle rebellion of his situation, which is merely the beginning stage of overcoming grief post-trauma. Although, Hamlet shows healthy signs of grief and expression of his emotions in the beginning of the play, since he “cannot transpose suffering into language” (Findlay 189-203) as he is “expected to assimilate sudden changes in his relation to the world” (Perry 259-263). With the sudden thrust of being forced to recover after two months of his father’s death, Hamlet uses “wordplay as a smokescreen that he throws up deliberately, a form of passive resistance” (Perry 259-263). Since Hamlet has no one to rely on that will be able to understand his emotions, he relies on himself. Expressing himself through long soliloquies, he realizes the “importance of speech as a means of rational control” (Findlay 189-205) which, ironically, makes him a “prison[er] of his mind” (Aldus 209-215), since the “feeling is confined in a nutshell; it presses severely on the mind” (Aldus 209-215). With no external emotional support to add new emotions and rational thoughts, Hamlet, who has been “schooled in contemplation” (Levy 83), uses language to assuage his pain. However, the “need for language to construct sanity… but cannot escape his awareness of its essential folly” (Findlay 189-205). His thoughts become endless cycles and due to his inability to assuage his pain without external support in these critical moments, Hamlet remains in a stagnant mourning state which digresses his depression to