The Cynicism Surrounding Sanity
The legitimacy of mental illnesses and insanity has been questionable within a myriad of societies throughout history. No individual is psychologically identical to anyone else, so there is no divine truth in determining what is sane and what is not. Because of this, some people are subjugated from the masses and some research correlates insanity with the creation of serial murders and criminals. Others are less fortunate and become prisoners of their own minds and exiled to the shadows. Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Hamlet tells the perfect tale of madness. Several characters in the drama can arguably be considered insane. Not only do characters see ghosts but each character’s declining mental state has a similar …show more content…
Some of his inspirations came from the works of Geoffery Chauecer whereas other’s like The Tradegy of Hamlet have ties to his son in law, John, who practiced in the medical field. “Shakespeare was clearly fascinated by mental illness, many characters displaying a variety of symptoms from Lear’s madness, Jaques’ melancholy, Timon’s bitter cursing, Macbeth’s visions and Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking, to the obsessiveness of Leontes” (Morris). Hamlet encompasses some of the most complex study of mental illness especially for someone of his time. The reader can pick up on the different diction each character acquires in part to his or her mental state. Depression and extreme psychosis is seen in Hamlet as well his mother Gertrude and her second husband, Claudius, whom she marries in the wake of her husband’s death. Gertrude even becomes a victim of her own wrongdoings and meddling as her affection is overpowered by her impulsivity and she drinks poison from a goblet meant for her son. His former lover, Ophelia, is no better than either of the two in regard to her mental state. She always goes with the flow with little hesitation and her “obedience leave[s] her helpless when the guiding male figures of father, brother, and lover are all taken from her, and Hamlet's obscene taunts and his implication in her father's death leave her entirely demented. Her death, not quite suicide, has become a powerful if debatable image of female psychological vulnerability” (Belling). She is head over heels for Hamlet, but both had already fell head first into a pool of
The legitimacy of mental illnesses and insanity has been questionable within a myriad of societies throughout history. No individual is psychologically identical to anyone else, so there is no divine truth in determining what is sane and what is not. Because of this, some people are subjugated from the masses and some research correlates insanity with the creation of serial murders and criminals. Others are less fortunate and become prisoners of their own minds and exiled to the shadows. Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Hamlet tells the perfect tale of madness. Several characters in the drama can arguably be considered insane. Not only do characters see ghosts but each character’s declining mental state has a similar …show more content…
Some of his inspirations came from the works of Geoffery Chauecer whereas other’s like The Tradegy of Hamlet have ties to his son in law, John, who practiced in the medical field. “Shakespeare was clearly fascinated by mental illness, many characters displaying a variety of symptoms from Lear’s madness, Jaques’ melancholy, Timon’s bitter cursing, Macbeth’s visions and Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking, to the obsessiveness of Leontes” (Morris). Hamlet encompasses some of the most complex study of mental illness especially for someone of his time. The reader can pick up on the different diction each character acquires in part to his or her mental state. Depression and extreme psychosis is seen in Hamlet as well his mother Gertrude and her second husband, Claudius, whom she marries in the wake of her husband’s death. Gertrude even becomes a victim of her own wrongdoings and meddling as her affection is overpowered by her impulsivity and she drinks poison from a goblet meant for her son. His former lover, Ophelia, is no better than either of the two in regard to her mental state. She always goes with the flow with little hesitation and her “obedience leave[s] her helpless when the guiding male figures of father, brother, and lover are all taken from her, and Hamlet's obscene taunts and his implication in her father's death leave her entirely demented. Her death, not quite suicide, has become a powerful if debatable image of female psychological vulnerability” (Belling). She is head over heels for Hamlet, but both had already fell head first into a pool of