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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page essay that explores Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” in order to answer the question of whether Hamlet was truly mad. The writer argues that Hamlet was not meant to be perceived as mad, that is, insane, but rather Shakespeare meant him to be perceived as melancholic (i.e., depressed), which the Elizabethans perceived as a character flaw. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khhammad.rtf
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have argued about whether Hamlets erratic behavior was entirely a masquerade, or whether Shakespeare intended his audience to perceive Hamlet has having been driven truly mad by the tremendous pressure
that was placed upon him by the ghost of his father, who commanded Hamlet to enact revenge and kill his uncle, the present king. Exploration of this question, based upon
a close reading of the play, demonstrates that the answer largely depends on whether depression, what the Elizabethans would have called "melancholia," is equated as synonymous with "madness." According to
historical opinion, "Shakespeare and his contemporaries would have regarded melancholy as a character defect, not an illness" (Shaw and Pickering 92). Therefore, examination of the play supports the idea that
Hamlet was not truly mad, but rather suffered from depression. Shakespeare portrays Hamlet as displaying the symptoms of depression from the beginning of the play. Depressive illness is "characterized by
low mood, anhedonia, negative beliefs and reduced energy" (Shaw and Pickering 92). Hamlet even refers to himself as melancholic in Act II, scene ii, line 597). In his first speech,
he indicates his depressed state, "I have that within passes show,/ These but the trappings and the suits of woe (I.ii.85) (Shaw and Pickering 92). It is true that Hamlet
has credible reasons for his melancholy state, as his father has been dead only two months, and his mother has already remarried. Not only does this suggest a lack of
devotion to his fathers memory, but also during the Elizabethan age, the fact that his mother, Gertrude, married her brother-in-law held implications in regards to incest. English Protestants of the
sixteenth century believed that a husband and wife were of one flesh, even after death, and that the laws stated in Leviticus prohibiting first-degree collateral incest should be heeded (Blincoe
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