Macbeth’s Mental Deterioration In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the main character starts off to be loyal and caring towards his wife and friends. Later in the story, Macbeth betrays all of his friends and becomes a murderous tyrant. The events that occurred in this play cause him to begin to have symptoms of mental illnesses. Macbeth could have been born with an illness or later developed one because of what he does throughout the play. Mental disorder is deterioration of one’s mind. This can be caused by stress, drug abuse, or disease. Macbeth ends up developing multiple different, but similar, mental illnesses. Some of the disorders he begins to display are Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Schizophrenia, Psychosis, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Borderline Personality Disorder and depression. Macbeth develops symptoms for each of these disorders/illnesses. Multiple events that go on in Macbeth’s life cause him to see things that are not there, and eventually make him go crazy. Towards the end of the story, he becomes very lonely because he had betrayed everyone.
Any mental illness can cause suffering. Macbeth felt so guilty after killing King Duncan that he could have developed
…show more content…
“Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a common, chronic and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over” (The National Institute of Mental Health). This mental illness has a huge impact on people’s daily lives. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder may not seem to be part of this play, but looking into the details, Lady Macbeth could have developed this disorder. Seeing the blood all over her hands, Lady Macbeth’s mind forced her to wash her hands to wash away the blood. Even though it was the terrible delusions she was having, she still believed her hands were covered in King Duncan’s
Macbeth shows several symptoms of schizophrenia. These symptoms are techniques that Shakespeare uses to create the idea that Macbeth actually has a mental illness. Macbeth’s main symptom is detachment from reality. While contemplating killing Banquo to secure his fate, Macbeth begins to see an imaginary dagger in front of him. He asks, “Art thou not, fatal vision sensible to feeling as to sight, or art thou a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-opposed brain?” (Act 2, Scene 2, lines 35-39). Then after Banquo is dead, Macbeth believe he sees his ghost during dinner with the county’s nobility. Macbeth says, “The
Throughout Shakespeare’s many works, mental illnesses have played an undeniable part in many of them, especially his tragedies. From Lady Macbeth hallucination of a bloody spot leading to her suicide, to Hamlet’s faked illness and Ophelia’s very real illness, afflictions of the mind are featured prominently in the Bard of Avalon’s many works. Still, in the Elizabethan era, understanding of mental illness was rudimentary at best, as were the methods of treating it. During the Middle Ages and Elizabethan Era, numerous theories about mental disorders and how to treat them abounded. Three plays of Shakespeare’s that feature mental illness most prominently are King Lear, Hamlet, and Macbeth, while also managing to showcase the conception of
Macbeth’s tragic downfall into insanity could be modernly diagnosed as the mental disorder schizophrenia. Many of the actions carried out by Macbeth during the play lead the reader to believe that Macbeth is crazy. However, by today’s medical standards, Macbeth falls into several of the categories under the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is defined as, "a psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with the environment, by noticeable deterioration in the level of functioning in everyday life, and by disintegration of personality expressed as disorder of feeling, thought, and conduct."
In the beginning of the play, Macbeth was in a great state of mind, he won the war for the people of Scotland, and was seen as a hero. On the way home from war, Macbeth meets three witches who prophesied that he will become The King of Scotland, which led to the ultimate downfall of his mental health. Throughout the rest of the play, you start to see him struggle with insomnia, hyperarousal, hallucinations, paranormal schizophrenia, and anxiety which we see throughout the play, that gradually gets worse. Just before Macbeth goes into Duncan‘s room, he envisions a bloody dagger which is one of the many psychotic episodes that he’s bound to have. Macbeth's actions, thoughts, and need to keep his masculinity in order, lead to the fall of
When the play first start 's Macbeth is referred to by King Duncan his “Worthiest cousin” but later on in the play Macbeth begins to show signs of mental illness perhaps due to traumatizing events such as killing Duncan, and ordering the murderers to hunt down Banquo, and his son. When Macbeth begins to see the ghosts of Banquo it shows signs of remorse or regret on his conscience, and basically it begins to ruin him. Just like Dr.P 's paintings at first they were sensible pieces of art and as the illness progressed so did his mentality.
In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, the character Macbeth descends into madness. Macbeth’s descent into madness first started with the witch’s prediction. If he had never met the witches none of this trouble would have occurred.
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy in which the main characters are obsessed by the desire for power. Macbeth’s aspiration for power blinds him to the ethical implications of his dreadful acts. The more that Shakespeare’s Macbeth represses his murderous feelings, the more he is haunted by them. By analyzing his hallucinations it is possible to trace his deteriorating mental state and the trajectory of his ultimate fall. Throughout the play Macbeth is never satisfied with himself. He feels the need to keep committing crime in order to keep what he wants most: his kingship. The harder Macbeth tries to change his fate the more he tends to run into his fate. His ambition and struggle for power was Macbeth’s tragic flaw in the play.
I, Dr. Roddenbery, have concluded through my findings that Macbeth is suffering from delusional compulsion. Through my expert analysis Macbeth’s delusional compulsion stems solely from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In Macbeth’s case of PTSD, he suffers from guilt, depression, and being emotionally numb. He is submissive and vulnerable to Lady Macbeth's grip she holds on him.
In Macbeth it went insomnia, hallucinations, and depression. All common symptoms of a mental disorder, luckily they all have cures. There’s millions of mental disorders, some more common than others, all still take a huge place within mental illness, which doesn’t make them any less important than any other illness. The topic is mental illness, sit down and explain the problem, causes of said mental illness, effects of said mental illnesses, and the solutions to nail it down.
Macbeth shows several symptoms of schizophrenia. These symptoms are techniques that Shakespeare uses to create the idea that Macbeth has a mental illness. Macbeth's main symptom is detachment from reality. While contemplating killing Banquo to secure his fate, Macbeth begins to see an imaginary dagger in front of him. He asks, "Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight, or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?" (II.2.35-39) Then after Banquo is dead, Macbeth believes he sees his ghost during a dinner with the country's nobility. Macbeth says, "The table's full." (III.4.46) Lennox points to the seat where Macbeth sees Banqo's ghost sitting and tells him that it is empty. Puzzled, Macbeth asks, "Where?" (III.4.48) He
Mental deterioration can wreak havoc on the human mind, causing unwieldy actions and harm on others. Macbeth is a fifteenth century play written by William Shakespeare. The play is a tragedy about a Scottish general named Macbeth. The play follows Macbeth as he begins to rise to power after he kills a rebel named McDonwald the Thane of Cawdor. Shortly after Macbeth’s major victory, he comes across the wyrd sisters who speak of his future success as the Thane of Cawdor and eventually the King of Scotland. As a reward for his success King Duncan crowned Macbeth Thane of Cawdor. As a result Macbeth is set on a path of death and destruction with one goal in mind, to become king. In the play Macbeth by Shakespeare, Macbeth’s mental deterioration displays the
The mind of each and every individual is unique in its own special way; some, of which, are steadfast and can roll with the punches, while others bend, conform, or break with the many psychological and physical influences in life. In the play The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is introduced by the wounded sergeant as a person of battlefield valor and who showed great loyalty for his king, Duncan. His mind, at the time, expresses an authentic adamant and patriotic persona which seems hard to be swayed. It is later revealed that Macbeth expresses a lack in strength of character and is easily corrupted by his lust for power. Encouraged by his wife, nerve racked by the witches, and plagued by his thirst for authority, his
Illness is defined as a disease of the body or mind; poor health; sickness. Not only is it a disease, but it’s also evil and wickedness. Let’s travel through Shakespeare’s Macbeth to see how Shakespeare proves this to be true. While Macbeth’s power expands, his physical illness shows his evilness. Lady Macbeth’s increasing physical illness represents her growing guilt. As evil and guilt appear more and more, it makes clear the decrease in mental stability. By examining illness, one can determine that physical illness is a metaphor for the illness of their minds.
Psychoanalysis can be viewed many different ways in the play Macbeth. It is clear that it is most evident through the relationship of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. in the beginning of the play we see Lady Macbeth’s dominance and influence over Macbeth. This does not last for long because by the end of the play it is Macbeth who is the one that has complete control over the relationship and his decisions. In Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, psychoanalysis is demonstrated in the power struggle between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are two diseases that can cause insanity which can lead to worse. These diseases co- occurred with each other to push Lady Macbeth over the edge. Lady Macbeth showed many symptoms of both diseases and those could of caused her issues. She had to deal with many different thoughts in her mind at once and that could have caused the diseases to surface. Lady Macbeth had many physiological issues that caused her