PTSD In Hamlet

Hamlet had a lot of things in his life gone wrong. For an example his father (the king at the time) was murdered by his own brother the new king. At the end of the book his mother and ophelia end up dead to. Hamlet was obsessed with his father being murdered and tried to seek revenge upon his murderer. At the end of the book hamlet ended up killing polonius because he thought it was Claudius (the new king). He was putting other people in harm's way too make claudius too confess. Hamlet has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) because of depression, self-destructive behavior, and unwanted memories of the trauma.

Depression is a mental illness that affects approximately three hundred and fifty million people in the world today. Is it too far fetched to think that a man who has lost his father, and essentially lost his uncle and mother too at the same time, is depressed? Any person that has gone through what Hamlet has gone through would be at a high risk of having depression. Not only can it be assumed that Hamlet, who has gone through many awful experiences, has this illness but it can be seen in the text when Hamlet has suicidal thoughts in the beginning of act three.

Hamlet is understandably distraught. He may not be mad, but he likely is close to the edge of sanity during many of the most intense moments in the play” (Sparknotes).

Ever wonder why characters in Hamlet seem to be so skittish, paranoid and seemingly “off”? It probably has little to nothing to do with mental illness! Mental illness includes a wide range of thoughts, actions and behaviors. In 2017, the society as a whole has moved toward recognizing mental illness as the very real and important disorders that they are. That said, learning the difference between mental illness and having ‘symptoms’ of mental disorders, is imperative for the growth of a generation. The qualifications for diagnosing require a degree obtained after extensive schooling, neither of which a senior in high school has. For the sake of this paper, I will ignorantly diagnose a fictional character from William Shakespeare’s, “Hamlet”. This story takes place in a much older time in Denmark. King Hamlet was pronounced dead and two castle guards claim they have seen his ghost. The ghost speaks to Prince Hamlet, King Hamlet’s son, and tells him he has been murdered by the new King which is King Hamlet’s brother. This sends Prince Hamlet into a spiral as it would any functioning person. He is deeply saddened and his love, Ophelia, as well as the rest of his family, are worried about him. Hamlet becomes so erratic he ends up slaying Ophelia’s father, mistaking him for King Claudius. Ophelia is obviously extremely upset as her father was just murdered by her boyfriend. Claudius becomes worried he will expose his secret and has Prince Hamlet sent away to England to be assassinated. While he is gone, the Queen discovers Ophelia has drowned.Ophelia’s brother, Laertes, talks with the King and is furious with Prince Hamlet for the death of his father and now his sister. Prince Hamlet’s ship is invaded by pirates and he secretly makes his way back to England. With this news, Laertes and Claudius devise a plan to kill Hamlet. Laertes will battle him and put poison on his sword and as a backup plan Claudius will put poison in wine and offer it to Hamlet. During the battle Hamlet and Laertes switch swords and Hamlet is pricked by the poisonous sword in the process. Queen Gertrude drinks from the poisoned wine and then Laertes is cut and poisoned. The Queen drops as does Laertes and when Hamlet realizes what has

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

One symptom that Hamlet has is explosive anger. Right off the bat, Hamlet becomes very angry once he finds out that his father had passed away and was replaced by his uncle Claudius. He becomes mad at his mother for remarrying Claudius. Another example of Hamlet having explosive anger is when he talks to the ghost of his father. He decides to make plans to find out who killed his father. The ghost told Hamlet that Claudius poisoned him. The last example of Hamlet being angry is him saying he is going to pretend to go into a madness stage. Throughout the story he is angry but some may not be sure if he is just doing it to get to Claudius.

Hamlet, the eponymous hero of Shakespeare’s greatest work, descends swiftly into madness and paranoia after the murder of his father and the realization of his mother’s true, morally reprehensible, nature. As a result of these new responsibilities and extreme circumstances, Hamlet diverges from his usual, logical thinking into paranoia and over analysis, a condition that prevents him from trusting anyone. Hamlet, having been born a prince, is, for the first time, forced to make his own decisions after he learns of the true means of his father’s death. Another contributing factor to his madness is the constant probing of others into Hamlet’s sanity. These factors all contribute to Hamlets delay, and that delay contributes to the tragic

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

Psychological Condition Essay Many great works of literature revolve around characters who possess some type of mental sickness. It helps to keep the story interesting and forces you to look deeper into the character’s minds to find out what they are really thinking. In “Hamlet”, the Shakespeare play, the Prince Hamlet himself is observed to be quite messed up in the head, although nothing is actually confirmed. In contrast, Holden Caulfield from, “The Catcher in the Rye”, shares the entirety of his story from the bed of what is believed to be a mental hospital. After psychoanalyzing these characters as they go about their respective stories, it is clear that their psychological states are very similar, particularly when it comes to suicide and depression.

Hamlet continuously throughout the play not only self-deprecates himself, but he also talks about committing suicide and the reasons he has for and against it. Hamlet self-deprecates for multiple reasons consisting of: Claudius killing his father, Gertrude marrying her husband’s brother after his death, his complications with Ophelia, and his very own insanity. From Hamlet’s self-deprecating tendencies, it is evident that he is not only depressed, but suicidal. Hamlet has many things going on in his life, and to him, he doesn’t know if his life is even worth living. Hamlet states, “To be or not to be? That is the question…Be all sins remembered.” (3.1.57-91), meaning that Hamlet really couldn’t care less what happens anymore. Hamlet summarizes the pros and cons to suicide, and he questions what he should do. He does this because he has changed – primarily his personality – and the events occurring around him are

This is only the beginning of Hamlets poisonous emotional turmoil endured throughout the duration of the play, and it all stems from the betrayal of Claudius on his brother and Gertrude on Hamlet by re-marrying. Hamlet further undergoes a poisoned mind after speaking with the ghost of his father. Hamlet feels the need to avenge his father death after hearing the truth of the murder. There is a filial loyalty that needs to be satisfied in Hamlets mind. Hearing this truth pushes Hamlet over the edge and further provokes his mind to consequently become increasingly poisoned in a metaphorical sense.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mind-altering, nerve wiring, life changing disability. Vast and monumental events like death, car accidents, war or abuse in ones life can lead to this state, in which it usually results in them having this disability for the rest of their life. In William Shakespeare's tragic play 'Hamlet', Hamlet could be perceived as an individual with severe onset PTSD which resulted from his father's unexpected murder.

The first incident that caused Hamlet's madness in part was the murder of his father, which is the key event that is the foundation of the plot. He mourns his father at the beginning of the play, to the point that it annoys Claudius. He tell him his mourning "is a course of impious stubbornness: tis unmanly grief" (Act 1,Scene 2,Lines 94-95) and he reluctantly has to temporarily act unmoved, though he is still deeply sad. He was also shocked that Denmark had so quickly forgotten King Hamlet Sr.'s death in only two months and was already celebrating the new king and queen. His mourning never really ends until

Hamlet, a play by William Shakespeare, is as much a mystery as a tale about depression, madness and sanity. Shakespeare reveals how the scourge of corruption and decay rapidly spread; and the emotional consequences that follow. Insanity, madness and depression are as intolerable as corruption and deceit; and just as intertwined. The play makes one ponder if it is possible to be sane in an insane world full of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption? By examining the themes of melancholy, madness and sanity in Hamlet, Shakespeare details his character’s descent from depression to madness. Additionally, Hamlet’s psychological state can be