Insanity

around one key element, insanity and decent into madness. Shakespeare heavily relies on hallucinations and insanity to not only set the tone of the play, but to drive the actions of the main characters. Although many factors go into characterizing the protagonist of the play, -- the one with the most impact -- the one element that truly drives the play is Macbeth’s decent into madness. The shift in character from an honorable soldier…

than would a blind man who stumbles into another person and knocks him into traffic.” This seems like a reasonable purpose for using the insanity defense at least with the volitional definition. Miller (2014) states that “in practice, however, a diagnosis of psychopathy or antisocial personality disorder is virtually never successfully invoked as an insanity defense for any type of crime.” Although the actions of some of these individuals are atrocious…

“heat-oppressed,” since it can no longer think clearly (2.1.51). When one uses apostrophe in such a way that one begins a conversation with an absent, inanimate object, insanity derived from anxiety ensues. Speaking to a dagger is a mentally abnormal behavior that violates a social normality representing the endangerment of others defining insanity. Also, as Macbeth speaks, he is personally confused as to if the dagger is tangible…

Insanity changes the way we perceive the people and world around us, in the poem “The Lady of Shalott” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the lady’s developing insanity warps her perception of the land she’s been cursed not to see. Her outlook on her situation darkens as her gripping insanity takes hold of everything she had left. Through cacophony, pathetic fallacy, and repetition it is shown how the lady’s being stuck in her own version of Plato’s allegory of the cave leads her to insanity. Lord…

they are both insane, they also have a lot of differences in the way that they are insane. A great way to compare the way the insanity differs in the narrators, is to compare two of Poe’s stories. Stories such as “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” do a good job showing the similarities and differences between the insanity in both of the stories, as well as the insanity in other short stories of Edgar Allan Poe’s. “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” are both very similar stories. In…

is the fine point between insanity and sanity? Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragedy about a prince of Denmark, Hamlet. First Hamlet’s father, the deceased king, is murdered by his brother, who then becomes king, and also marries his wife. Then, Hamlet’s father’s ghost appears and tells Hamlet to get revenge. In the events that ensue, Hamlet murders Polonius thinking that he is Claudius, his murderous uncle. Hamlet should be tried for murder and not be let off for insanity because he truthfully…

I believe that Andrea’s illness post partum psychosis twisted her way of thinking to a certain degree, however; I also believe that her mental illness was not one hundred percent responsible for her actions and crimes. Her capacity to understand what she had done, was likely clouded by her Post Partum. Like any other mental illness, it can quickly take over people’s thoughts and actions, making them say and do things they never thought they would. Andrea’s illness infected her thoughts, making…

considered essentially subhuman by the other characters in the novel, all due to the fact that she could not fit the mold of the “angel in the house.” This poses the question: are the expectations of women in Victorian society enough to drive women to insanity, eventually leading to an inescapable demise? Though this question does not have a specific answer, there are many symbols and ideas within Jane Eyre that add to the discussion. Bronte uses the character’s within her novel to portray how…

In A Rose for Emily, Faulkner uses color to describe Emily Grierson’s emotional state transitioning from innocence to insanity. Typically in stories, colors provide the current visuals that characters see while helping readers to obtain a better mental image of the scene. Faulkner, however, not only uses colors to help paint a better mental image for his reader, but to also highlight the limitless meaning that colors can embody such as setting the tone and mood. He does not tell Emily’s story in…

Distraught by the death of his father and the sudden remarriage of his mother-to his uncle-, Hamlet resorts to a state of frenzy and exaggerated insanity. His demeanor is motivated by his father’s words spoken through a ghostly apparition. After learning that his uncle murdered his father in cold blood to usurp the throne, young Hamlet assumes a state of insanity in order to justify avenging his father’s death. Hamlet’s madness can be characterized through five main causes: grief from his…