or Illness? Mental illness has been portrayed in many works throughout literary history, but none seem to capture it so accurately as Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The play delves deep into the stigma around mental illness and exemplifies intricate webs of deception. Hamlet’s desire to feign madness inevitably results in intense mental illness, which, when left unrecognized and untreated, leads to exceptionally dreadful circumstances. This will be explored through the trivialization of mental illness, the
entitlements to do things one would not rationally think of, making for an unpredictable and exciting story. Hamlet is one of the most well known and famous stories from hundreds of years ago; many know the tale of the mad Prince of Denmark. However, in this day and age, with so such medical and legal structure to what actually consists of insanity, we must ask was Hamlet really driven to madness? Hamlet should not be considered guilty
spurred artists into creating countless great works. Shakespeare’s Hamlet in particular, serves as an intriguing take on the thin line between the sane and mad, as well as a spectacular testament to Shakespeare’s ability to harness the subject of insanity as a thrilling plot device. Hamlet’s state of mind is constantly changing during the duration of the play. The first incident of specific mention of the concept of “madness” is when Hamlet says, “Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, how strange
The play of Hamlet is not a very happy-going play. There are a lot of dark images of poison and disease that are portrayed throughout the story, and following the corruption that surrounds events that are recent and to come to the castle. All of this corruption starts with the poison that Claudius had used to murder King Hamlet, this spreads like an illness throughout the country. Shakespeare portrays in words of sickness repeatedly during the play, which helps best to exemplify the sick condition
society. However, in Frankenstein, Edgar Huntly, and Hamlet, the main characters are all men who are driven insane by inside and outside factors. However, minor characters such as Clithero, Ophelia, Frankensetin, and Annette, are also considered insane. For the most part, women are labeled more insane in literature than men because
The Gothic is the study of the otherness; the unseen. It disturbs us as it is associated with anxiety, chaos, darkness, the grotesque and evokes images of death, destruction and decay. (Steele, 1997)According to Catherine Spooner in ‘Contemporary Gothic’ 2006, “The Gothic lurks in all sorts of unexpected corners.” It is incredibly broad - superstitions, the uncanny, the monstrous, the forgotten past, the Gothic feminine - to name but a few are all elements which combine to form this theme. The Gothic