Madness in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Hamlet"

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Recommended: What theory does the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey relate to

The issue of madness has been touched by many writers. In this paper I will focus on two important writings which deal directly with the mental illnesses. The first one is "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" by Ken Kesey first published in 1962. The second is "Hamlet" written by Shakespeare approximately in 1602. Ken Kesey worked nights in a mental institution in California and his novel has a lot of truth in it. He faced patient's insanity every day and was confident that it was natural response to the overall madness of the corporate America. Shakespeare on the contrary, focused on the completely opposite side of the mental madness: through "Hamlet" he wanted to show that in degree of publicity mental disorders can harm observers. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was written and set at the period when people outside the mainstream were often looked at with some suspicion. The United States were at Cold War with the Soviet Union and people were afraid of the nuclear conflict. Toward the end of the late 1950s the groups started to form protesting against civil injustice and cultural mediocrity. Beat Generation was one the groupings expressing their "dissatisfaction with the current society through art and non-violent actions" (Partridge 19). Soon the movement became known as a counterculture (Hippies) and Kesey was among supporters. At that time rates of drug usage grew up quickly and Kesey was a subject in the scientific experiment on the effects of LSD. This drug is not fatal and was often used to treat mental disorders, however with a lot of side effects such as visual and auditory hallucinations. For many years, in addition, in the United States the mental illness was often ignorers and misinterpreted. ... ... middle of paper ... ... cannot cope with the stress. Kesey also stresses the notion that madness is a result of the society's pressure; however, in most cases labelling is done in a wrong way. Many people are perceived to be mad when in fact they act as most average people. References Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., 1927. Holland, Thomas. Notes on Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Hungry Minds Inc., 1974 Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Viking, 1962. Partridge, Eric. Shakespeare's Bawdy. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1969. Peden, William. "Gray Regions of the Mind." Saturday Review 14 April 1962: 17. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. By Susanne L. Wofford. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1994. Wilson, J. Dover. What happens in Hamlet. Cambridge: University Press, 1960.

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