King Claudius And Narcissistic Personality Disorder In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Several emotions engulf Shakespeare’s Hamlet throughout the play, the most famous being Hamlet’s own emotional state. His madness, triggered by his incestuous uncle, has led several scholars to explore the psychological causes of his madness. This research into Hamlet’s madness will explore his madness in comparison to other characters, the psychoanalytical studies behind his madness, and defining whether his madness is genuine or another play within the play.

Shakespeare's character, Hamlet, shows many tendencies of bipolar disorder. This disorder “causes serious shifts in mood, energy, thinking, and behavior from the highs of mania on one extreme, to the lows of depression on the other” (Unknown, 2). Extreme behavior experienced in the later stages of this disease can often lead to feelings of shame and worthlessness. Hamlet’s character depicts a prime example of this. He often wrestles with the highs and lows of his situation. Hamlet resides in either extreme depression state or extreme obsessive state where he is determined to complete his goal.

While it is true that Hamlet was merely playing the role of someone who had gone mad, many people may say that Hamlet’s madness was brought upon himself simply by the fact that he was trying to fulfill the orders from his dead father yet couldn’t because of his lack of acting upon a plan. It is strongly possible that Hamlet became extremely frustrated because every chance he got to expose Claudius and capture him in this enormous secret, he failed to do so. Therefore, Hamlet’s madness could be judged as reasonable but most likely for different reasons than one may think. Rather than going mad over the concrete facts that his father died and his mother remarried his uncle less than two months afterwards, he drove himself mad over his own flaws. Hamlet’s tragic flaw absolutely led to his tragic downfall as a

He knew that his Uncle Claudius was guilty to the murder of his brother. While trying to get revenge for his father, he killed Polonius by stabbing him through the curtain. He thought Polonius was Claudius behind the curtain. After killing Polonius, Hamlet doesn’t react in the way a normal person would. Hamlet hides Polonius under the stairs. This act of madness leads to the death of Ophelia. Ophelia drowns herself from being stressed out and overwhelmed by the death of her father. The killing of Polonius makes Laertes want revenge on Hamlet for his father. Hamlet’s act of madness contributes to a lot of deaths throughout the

An act as appalling as this would never cross the mind of a person with a healthy sense of sanity. Although he committed this dreadful crime, Claudius was good at keeping secrets; nobody ever knew of his sins. “Claudius is socially adept, and his charm is genuine. He can exhibit deep distress over his ‘dear brother’s death’ and admiration for his wife, ‘Th’imperial jointress to this warlike state.’ He knows the value of a great funeral, but quickly turns mourning into celebration and moves on ‘With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage’ to whatever lies ahead” (Claudius). This narcissistic king only cared to bring attention to himself when his kingdom chose to mourn the death of Hamlet. Claudius mourns his brother’s death in public but he only pretends to grieve so that his crime will not seem conspicuous. “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death the memory be green, and that it us befitted to bear our hearts in grief , and our whole kingdom to be contracted in one brow of woe, yet so far hath discretion fought with nature that we with wisest sorrow think on him together with remembrance of ourselves” (Shakespeare 10,11). Claudius explains that although it is necessary to mourn, life still goes on. He points out the importance of realizing the health and prosperity of himself as the new king, only to take the attention off of the abhorrent tragedy he caused to the kingdom for the sake of gaining power and a

Throughout the Shakespearian play, Hamlet, the main character is given the overwhelming responsibility of avenging his father’s "foul and most unnatural murder" (I.iv.36). Such a burden can slowly drive a man off the deep end psychologically. Because of this, Hamlet’s disposition is extremely inconsistent and erratic throughout the play. At times he shows signs of uncontrollable insanity. Whenever he interacts with the characters he is wild, crazy, and plays a fool. At other times, he exemplifies intelligence and method in his madness. In instances when he is alone or with Horatio, he is civilized and sane. Hamlet goes through different stages of insanity throughout the story, but his neurotic and skeptical personality amplifies his

    The cause for a person's insanity can be perceived as a psychological disorder. “Insanity .n. Mental illness of such severe nature that a person cannot distinguish  fantasy from reality, cannot conduct her/his affairs due to psychosis, or is subject to uncontrollable impulsive behavior”(Ryan Howes, PhD.). Hamlet’s own thorough planning to take revenge against claudius shows his sharp and deceptive mind and creating deceptions for other character  in order to make what once was wrong and make it right with his own ideology. “Don’t let the Danish king’s bed be a nest of incest. But however you go about your revenge, don’t corrupt your mind or do any harm to your mother. Leave her to God and her own guilt”(Old King Hamlet).

Did you ever notice there are many characters in Hamlet that have mental disorders? Hamlet has a few characters that could possibly be diagnosed with a mental health disorder. At the beginning of the story, Hamlets dad is possibly murdered and Hamlet's uncle, Claudius, takes over the king spot. Hamlet's father's ghost arrives in the castle, it causes suspicions with the whole remarrying right after the death. He becomes very confused on how and why his father passed away. Due to the confusion and questions Hamlet wants answered, he could have developed a mental health disorder in the process of trying to figure things out.

Hamlet, a Shakespearean character, constantly struggles in a battle with his mind. He leads a very trying life that becomes too much for him to handle. Hamlet experiences hardships so horrible and they affect him so greatly that he is unable escape his dispirited mood. In speaking what he feels, Hamlet reveals his many symptoms of depression, a psychological disorder. While others can move on with life, Hamlet remains in the past. People do not understand his behavior and some just assume he is insane. However, Hamlet is not insane. He only pretends to be mad. Because Hamlet never receives treatment for his disorder, it only gets worse and eventually contributes to his death.

There were various ‘treatments’ used in the span of history to treat those who were affected by anything regarding mental health. Psychology, despite being one of the youngest sectors of science has a very undeveloped, horrific history when it comes to participants. “Madness is a generic term that includes behaviors considered deviant. Deviance is always culturally defined, and varies markedly from society to society.” ("Madness and Culture."). In the play, both Hamlet and Ophelia are affected mental health disorders deriving from the deaths of loved ones yet they both dealt with it differently. Arguments regarding Hamlet’s mental state are made based off his encounter with his father's ghost as well as his general behaviour. Hamlet’s friends often worry that when Hamlet and his father meet “there [King Hamlet] assume some other horrible form, Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason And draw you into madness?” (1.4.71-73). Nonetheless, this worry was often disproved throughout the play. Being described as having a ‘crafty madness’ by Rosencrantz disproves his madness theory. Moreover, there are various instances where Hamlet confesses to faking his apparent decent. With statements such as “I am but mad north-northwest” (Shakespeare 2.2.386) or “...am not in madness, / but mad in craft” (Shakespeare 3.4.188-189) show that Hamlet is fully aware of himself and how others think of him, showing that his acts are done on purpose and he is, in

Insanity could be considered the worst human trait. As for Hamlet, insanity doesn’t even begin to describe his character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This embarrassing trait forces Hamlet to disguise his madness with actual madness. Hamlet can be analyzed as character gone mad. He endures the difficulties with the death and reappearance of his father, the remarriage of his mother, and the murders of Claudius and Laertes. The reappearance of King Hamlet is the first glimpse of Hamlet’s madness; he doesn’t begin the play being mad but rather a transition and progression throughout the play. Hamlet doesn’t try to mask his madness but rather use it as a weapon to his enemies (Erlich 87).

Unlike Hamlet though, Claudius thinks about his actions because he wants to make sure he makes a decision that will be the best for him. He knows if he just kills Hamlet the people of the kingdom will turn on him because of the love they all share for Hamlet. He sends in Rozencrantz and Guildenstern to find out what is wrong with Hamlet so that Claudius can decide what to do from there. His decision to send Rozencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on and talk to Hamlet is illustrated when he says, “So by your companies/To draw him on pleasures, and to gather/So much as from occasion you may glean/[Whether aught to us unknown afflicts him thus]/That opened lies within our remedy” (II.II.14-18). Claudius and Hamlet are both extremely sly and cunning and posses similarities with their ability to act, but this could merely be because of the education they both have which has brought them common sense and the ability to think before acting. One major difference of their ability to act is when Hamlet acts on impulse and kills Claudius’ advisor Polonius. Hamlet unlike Claudius has so much anger built up inside of him because of his father’s death and it kept building and building until he finally let it out when talking to his mother about Claudius. He heard a noise from behind a curtain which was Polonius’, and without thinking Hamlet stabs him releasing some of his pent up aggression. Hamlet shows the anger he has within when he says, “A bloody deed-almost as

The confliction of Claudius is shown throughout the play with who he is publically. As he shows during his speech to the public, “Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother’s death The memory be green; and that it is befitted To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom To be contracted in one brow of woe; Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature, That we with wisest sorrow think on him, Together with remembrance of ourselves. Therefore our sometimes sister, now our queen, Th’ imperial jointress

Hamlet uses such an antic disposition to fool his opponents; his antic disposition can be understood through examples of his unpredictable attitude changes, and interactions with the ghost of his father concerning his mental state. Hamlet does fake his madness. His mood swings proved there is a certain method in his emotions (Triggers). For example, when Horatio (close friend) responds to Hamlet’s first interaction with the ghost, he does not believe in the spiritual concept of communicating with the dead. However, this concept is displayed when Polonius says, “These are but wild and whirling words, my lord (Kirszner & Mandell, 2012).” Hamlet states from this point forward that he may act weird but to ignore his actions of madness. They are in no way a sign of real madness. Only a sane and rational person could create such a plan as to act insane to convince others that he is crazy when he has complete control over his emotions. He only acts mad when he is around certain characters, for example, Polonius (he is the father of Laertes and Ophelia. This madness is due to his character comes across as rather manipulative. However, he is the Lord of Chamberlain of Claudius’s court), Claudius (Hamlet’s uncle known as the King of Denmark along with portraying the role of the antagonist of play. These allegations are observed because he is driven by his sexuality and desire for power ) along with being Hamlet (as the main character in the play his role is portrayed as depressed, harsh, and skeptical, full of abhorrence for his uncle’s conniving and disgust for his mother’s sexuality), Gertrude (Hamlet’s mom who character appears to

Unusual behaviors usually lead to the diagnosis of a mental disorder. Hamlet could fit the symptoms of many mental disorders. For example, there is a disorder known as Bipolar I Disorder. This disorder is categorized by symptoms such as attention being easily diverted, decreased need for sleep, unusual talkativeness, or excessive involvement in activities that might have undesirable consequences. Approximately 2.5% of the population has this disorder, and it could possibly be genetic but also it is environmental. Another example of a mental disorder is Dissociative Identity Disorder. People with this disorder have symptoms like having two or more identities or personalities, the inability of at least one of the altars to recall important information, and these personalitities taking over the behavior of the person. This disorder