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Examples Of Mental Illness In Hamlet

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Erica Noonon Mrs.Kigar AP Lit 5 24 March 2023 Hamlet paper In Hamlet by Shakespeare, the idea of two of the characters, Hamlet and Ophelia, being mad comes up multiple times throughout the play. It’s one of the major themes, and is one of the things that isn’t ever truly confirmed, and one of the things that people need to think about more after they read it. Hamlet and Ophelia weren’t actually completely mad in this play, and most likely instead had depression, or some other type of mental illness, because of the things they experienced and the expectations society had for them. The expectations that society had for both Hamlet and Ophelia could’ve caused them to be depressed or have some other type of mental illness, which definitely doesn’t …show more content…

Not only did he lose his father at a young age, he also had to see his mother marry his uncle, which would probably really mess with anyone. Even if there aren’t any laws that really make it wrong, it would still probably hurt him, and clearly affected him negatively in the play Finally, the events that happened in Ophelia’s life definitely caused her to be depressed, and not just crazy over her love for Hamlet. First, this is clearly shown when Hamlet, the man she used to love, literally killed her father. Even though both of them treated her badly overall, it basically took away the two people who she actually trusted or could rely on and listen to. And since she already didn’t really have an identity before that, there isn’t any way that those events wouldn’t have caused her to be depressed. Even though all of this did happen to them, you still could argue that they were truly insane. Hamlet’s actions in general were irrational and there were points where he did things that someone else wouldn’t do. And near the end of the play, Ophelia’s actions could definitely lead people to believe that she was crazy. However, it’s not possible to ignore all of the events that happened to them. Hamlet’s actions weren’t truly justifiable, and neither were Ophelia’s, but neither of them would’ve acted the way they did without these things happening to them. If Ophelia didn’t have to rely on the other men

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