`` Bartleby, The Scrivener, And Harlan Ellison 's `` Repent, Harlequin !

What is madness? Is someone considered mad or insane simply because they are different, and they, in turn, see the rest of the world as insane? William Shakespeare 's play Hamlet is about a complex protagonist, Hamlet, who plays the role of a tragic hero. He encounters several misfortunes from experiencing his beloved father’s death, witnessing his mother 's incestuous remarriage to his uncle, and seeing his father’s ghost. Due to all of this, Hamlet falls into a deep depression. Hamlet begins his journey by seeking revenge against Claudius after discovering that his noble father was murdered by his own uncle. Hamlet is a character whose actions and emotions may seem like one of an insane person, however, in the beginning of the play, it is clear that he decides to fake madness in order to gain an advantage over Claudius. This would aid in him in accomplishing his revenge. Hamlet is sane throughout the play: he only shows signs of insanity in front of certain people whom he does not trust. However, even they believe that his madness is not sheer madness but has a reason to it. Hamlet’s character is sane as in the play his rationality is shown through the logic and intelligence he uses in his plots. He usually calculates his movements and his impulsive acts are justified. While there are reasons to believe that many of the hardships could have driven Hamlet to the point of insanity, his display of intelligence and rational thinking throughout the play proves his sanity.

The cautionary tale that is the dystopian narrative has appeared in some of the world 's most prominent works of fiction, be they literary or cinematic. It is through this type of narrative that the writer attempts to make a criticism about societal issues by exaggerating said issues to the point where any and all semblance of individuality within the imagined civilization is stripped away. Over the course of this essay, I intend to analyze the major societal issues that Harlan Ellison chooses to critique in his short story " 'Repent, Harlequin! ' Said the Ticktockman" while simultaneously attempting to prove that the perils humanity may someday face stem from the constant clash between individuality and the propensity to maintain a sense of order through totalitarian power.

There is a fine line between sane and madness that everyone can teeter on in some point in their lives. Sometimes this is the result of a broken relationship, a loss of a job, confusion about the future, anger, or can be a result of countless other events or reasons. This theme of insanity is present in countless pieces of literature due to its relatability to everyone, not just people with a diagnosed mental illness. People tend to do crazy things and act crazily without being completely insane. Along the same lines, when people linger in their crazy actions and start to do it purposefully, it can lead to something that is real and more permanent. Hamlet’s madness, in Hamlet by Shakespeare, is a complex idea that is constantly developing throughout

The question of what it means to be labelled ‘psychologically abnormal’ is examined closely in Rosenhans study of ‘On Being Sane in Insane Places’. This study highlights the usefulness and consequences of being diagnostically labelled.

In the poem “Much Madness is Divinest Sense”, By Emily Dickinson talks about the two kinds of people that excises in society. The poem start with the person’s “Madness”, Dickinson says “Much Madness is divinest Sense-To a discerning Eye” this means that a person may look like they don’t know what they are talking about or they have a different opinion than the rest of society. In society now a days if you have a different opinion on something or say something is good or bad, people may look at you different. Not everyone thinks the same, every single person has his or hers little world in their head that is complexly different than others. Lot of people that I personally know have change their idea or the way they think just because society

Sanity is subjective. Every individual is insane to another; however it is the people who possess the greatest self-restraint that prosper in acting “normal”. This is achieved by thrusting the title of insanity onto others who may be unlike oneself, although in reality, are simply non-conforming, as opposed to insane. In Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted, this fine line between sanity and insanity is explored to great lengths. Through the unveiling of Susanna’s past, the reasoning behind her commitment to McLean Hospital for the mentally ill, and varying definitions of the diagnosis that Susanna received, it is evident that social non-conformity is often confused with insanity.

Merriam-Webster dictionary’s definition of insanity is, a deranged state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder. But what is the true definition, behind logic and basic thought? According to Lionel Suggs, an author, “Insanity is the greatest gift of humanity, for insanity talks to the mind of the delusion”. In both the “Tell-Tale Heart” and The Hitchhiker, the narrator and Ronald Adams struggle to distinguish themselves from being on the brink of insanity. The narrator from “The Tell-Tale Heart” and Ronald Adams from the radio play The Hitchhiker are both insane due to their lack of being able to separate reality from fantasy, in addition to their chronic paranoia, and their need to recite their different narratives to keep calm.

- The original question of the study was: ‘If sanity and insanity exist, how shall we know them?’ but Rosenhan narrowed it down in order to make it easier to answer and less of a philosophical debate. ‘Do the salient characteristics that lead to diagnoses reside in the patients themselves or in the environments and contexts in which observers find them?’ The question was narrowed down to patients, referring to those declared unwell in mind by medical institutions, and wonders whether diagnoses are made based on the patients themselves or preconceived societal notions and the unique living situation within the hospital.

On the other hand, I could see why some say he is sane. In some parts of the story he is in his right mind. Like when he said, “But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wishing them gone.” (page four). I feel as if he had come to his senses and figured out what he did. So, while he was doing the murder, he didn’t know what he was doing. But, afterwards it hit him. He learned what he did.

The insanity defense, otherwise called the mental disorder defense, is a barrier by reason in a criminal case, contending that the litigant is not in charge of their activities due to a verbose or tenacious psychiatric infection at the time of the criminal demonstration. Competency figures out if a respondent will have the capacity to show up at trial and comprehend the procedures; sanity determines figures out if a litigant will be considered in charge of his criminal activities. Accordingly, a respondent who is skillful to stand trial may in any case be found not blameworthy by reason of

The term sane has many different perspectives and is truly questioned in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. Sane in modern society is commonly known as the ability to have a sound mind, or not mentally ill. Although this book was written not too long ago, this definition of normality is insanely different. Nurse Ratched’s tyranny makes clarity of how “insane” the patients really are. Although the patients are considered abnormal, many of them could live on the outside world. Are they actually mentally-ill, or do they just not fit into the norm of society? Due to fear and lack of gut they choose to stay inside the institution. The difference between normality and insanity definitely has a distinct line between them. Sanity in

What constitutes normal and abnormal is not universally agreed upon, but there are certain criteria to consider when evaluating abnormalities, which was pointed out in Rosenhan (1973). However, he questions the standards of sanity in society and the system that diagnoses the abnormal. One of the primary research questions looks at if a psychiatric diagnosis is reflective of the person or the environment. To attempt to answer this, 8 people (pseudopatients) with no history of mental issues checked themselves into a psychiatric hospital under the pretense that they were hearing voices. After they were admitted, they

This movie is mainly about time travel and the problems it faces, but the film also brings up a very interested question. How do we judge who's insane and who is not? Towards the end of the movie the film suggests that James Cole is in fact sane but throughout the movie we're forced to wonder whether he's crazy. Like the strange voice he keeps hearing over and over. At different times during to movie Cole hears this voice. We never do find out who it is. This must have been put into the movie to emphasize that Cole isn't necessarily sane, and to make the viewers wonder about this. Cole even gets put into a mental institution. With this example we can began to wonder that if a sane person could mistakenly be put into a mental institution simply because their frame of mind is so much different than what's expected, then maybe people who are considered insane aren't that insane after all. Perhaps their minds are just so much more different or advanced they don't function the same as the average person.

When considering the idea of disturbed minds we are quickly drawn to an image of mental illness, brutality or social disorder but this is not always the case. There are many reasons as to why an individual might have a disturbed mind: stress, traumatic experiences, childhood problems or illness. Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth” is about a loyal warrior a “lion” and his wife being destroyed by their minds, which cannot lay at rest after killing the king, which in 1603 would be a crime against mankind, nature and God. This is because in 1603 there was a distinct hierarchy of power which was as follows. King, Man, Woman and then beast. By killing the king

The answer that Ken Frieden gives to this question is a positive one. He downplays the contrast between the sane narrative and mad narrator: “The discrepancy between sane narrator and madman perhaps shows the error of assuming that linguistic normalcy implies psychological normalcy.” Friedan took it for granted that the narrator is mad because he kills an old man for no reason. He is doubly mad, Friedan said, when he imagines he hears the pounding of the dead man's heart and gives away the crime he had concealed. Yet the narrator tells a coherent tale, as if to demonstrate out of spite that he is sane, refuting the ordinary belief that he must be mad.