OPPapers.com Essay Index >> English >> Something Rotten In Denmark: Hamlet'S Depressin
We have many free term papers and essays on Something Rotten In Denmark: Hamlet'S Depressin. We also have a wide variety of research papers and book reports available to you for free. You can browse our collection of term papers or use our search engine.
Submitted by wtredneck08 on November 11, 2007
Category: English
Words: 2450 | Pages: 10
Views: 147
Popularity Rank: 67,433
Average Member Grade: N/A (Add a Comment / Grade this Paper)
Many psychiatrists have come to the conclusion that had Shakespeare’s tragic hero Hamlet lived today he could be diagnosed with a treatable psychological condition, possibly bipolar disorder. Hamlet’s depression can be attributed to many environmental and physiological conditions including his family history, the state of the court at the time that the play covers and his very personality. His depression is a very crucial element in the play in that it causes him to delay his revenge on Claudius which causes many unnecessary deaths and adds to the tragedy that befalls Hamlet. Hamlet’s condition and actions in the play read like a symptom list for what in modern times is considered depression and in particular bipolar disorder.
In the time of William Shakespeare, there was no perception of acute depressive illness. However, in that time melancholy was very well known. Melancholy would have been included in Hamlet because it would have been seen as a character defect and in a tragedy the hero brings himself and others to ruin because of a character defect (Shaw and Pickering 92). Today, melancholy is actually seen as a symptom of depression. Depressive illness is typically characterized by low mood, anhedonia, negative beliefs and reduced energy (Shaw and Pickering 92). Depression is a key symptom of bipolar disorder which is a well-defined psychiatric illness found in adults and children that is very prevalent today. Bipolar disorder is characterized by intense mood swings where a person can cycle from intense euphoria to deadening depression and every phase in between. This transition can be a very abrupt one between high and low moods that can occur over the course of days or even over the course of a few hours. This disorder is considered today to be the result of abnormal neurological activity in the brain that affects a person’s mood, thought patterns and behavior (Hahn 56). Another symptom of bipolar disorder is mania. Many members of...
You must Login to view the entire paper.
If you are not a member yet, Sign Up for free!