Examples Of Mental Illness In Hamlet

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Mentally Unprepared Throughout past and present literature, psychological disorders and mental illnesses have been portrayed in fictional characters of all kinds. In one of the most classic playwrights, “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare, young Prince Hamlet has quite a few problems with his mental health. In the more recent novel It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, highschooler Craig is dealing with his own set of psychological issues. Even though these two works are separated by many years and are written in completely different styles, there are some very distinctive qualities and problems of both main characters that are similar. Writers throughout time have used fictional characters to give readers a better understanding of the struggles…show more content…
This traumatic event led to many psychological issues that soon became very apparent in Hamlet’s everyday life. A possible psychological disorder that Hamlet could of had is Acute Stress Disorder (ASD). “ASD is a psychological disturbance” that can happen to an individual when they have witnessed or are involved in “a severely traumatic or horrifying event” (Olive 2). Hamlet’s strange behavior is noticed first by those who are close to him. They notice he is always “talking in such crazy way” (Shakespeare 71), and “[looking] so out of sorts, as if he’d just come back from hell” (Shakespeare 83). These actions parallel with the symptoms of ASD such as: “anxiety... inability to concentrate, irritability, [and] increased startle response” (Olive 8). It does not take long until everyone has “heard about the “change” that’s come over Hamlet” (Shakespeare 87). Shakespeare chooses to use the word “change” as if he is trying to say that there was a time when mental issues were not classified and openly discussed, and people who acted in strange manners were simply know as ‘crazy’. This explains why Hamlets mother spends a good deal of time trying to either talk to her son or to get other people to talk to him to try and figure out what is wrong with

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