Stress And Craziness In Hamlet

The stress of everyday life can draw us out of reality and into our own world. What separates the line between stress and craziness is a rather large one. The day-to-day activity of our lives may sometimes seemingly be enough to send us spiraling into madness. Regardless of the situation, we can control and cope with life however we want. It is our duty to do such a thing. In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the title character himself faces a lot of stress and is labeled by literary critics and readers everywhere as “crazy” or “mad”. Looking more boldly at such a claim, it seems wrong to classify him as such. For the magnitude of the situation he was dealing with, it doesn’t seem as if he was crazy or mad, but rather just struggling to cope

with the twists and turns that were thrown at him. Hamlet was in the middle of a very hard time and was admittedly just acting insane. Hamlet is not insane, mad or crazy; He is merely adapting – or lacking to adapt – to the rapid change in his life just as anyone likely would if they were in the same situation and likely suffering from depression and bi-polar disorder.
The loss of a loved one can be something that psychologically scars one for a long time. Death is a natural part of life. There is never a time one can say death has been “easy” to watch. For Hamlet, the death of his father must have been rather traumatic. Especially since Hamlet knows it was his own uncle – the brother of his father – who went and killed his father and attempted to cover it up. Hamlet is eager to seek revenge as most people would be at first. Part of the natural grieving process is anger. Luckily most citizens will never have to deal with a loved one being murdered, but those that do, Hamlet included, will understand the urge to plot revenge. Hamlet is found to be under a lot of stress because of the death and other facets out of his control which are around him and some which he can control such as how he handles the situation. Shewta Bali composed an article written about several Shakespearean plays and how they deal with the human psyche. She wrote about Hamlet’s stress saying, “Distraught as [Hamlet] is at the death of his father, the hasty incestuous marriage of his mother and the general unnerving atmosphere of Denmark further unnerve Hamlet. He displays a definite inability to cope with the loss [of his father]…” (Bali). As a standalone statement, one could sympathize for Hamlet. He is dealing with such monstrous problems. In the time period, it was important for men to seek vengeance in the name of their family. Hamlet seeking revenge by wanting to kill Claudius is in no way a crazy thing to do. In the Shakespearean Era, Hamlet would not have been considered crazy for attempting to, and ultimately succeeding, at killing Claudius. Death is hard, but for Hamlet it is a way to honor his father – by inflicting that same cruel death on someone else.
Some would say Hamlet is depressed. He calls himself melancholic and the very first speech he makes in the play is devoted to a public statement of his melancholy. Hamlet also mentions his problem with sleeping “were it not that I have bad dreams”. He furthermore dwells on death and suicide in the famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy and other characters make note of his awful appearance. According to The National Institute of Mental Health, “Depression is a common - but serious - mood disorder. It causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, including sleeping, eating, and working”. Hamlet at the very least told us about his lack of sleep throughout the events in the tragedy. Hamlet feels overwhelmed with the task given to him by his father’s ghost which if evident in his delay to accomplish the job. He expresses guilt at his failure to act many times by saying things such as “Do you not come your tardy son to chide?” (III.iv.32) and he criticizes himself “O what a rogue and peasant slave am I!” (II.ii.545-583). Several of that other characters in the play stated how Hamlet changed after his father’s death. The feeling of no self-worth, not taking care of himself, and losing sleep are all symptoms of depression which he clearly has up until his death.
One could even say Hamlet suffers from ‘Psychotic Depression’. This occurs when a person has severe depression plus some form of psychosis, such as having disturbing false fixed beliefs, or delusions, or hearing or seeing upsetting things that others cannot hear or see. “The psychotic symptoms typically have a depressive ‘theme’, such as delusions of guilt, poverty, or illness”. Hamlet saw the ghost of his father in the darkness one night. The ghost tells Hamlet he was poisoned in the ear while he slept in the garden. Hamlet concludes his father was murdered by his uncle – King Claudius. The ghost encourages him to seek revenge and urges him to leave his mother alone. In the morning, the ghost disappears and Hamlet promises to obey a ghost and refuses to tell others what he has seen. Certainly this is not normal, but it does not make Hamlet insane. It solely shows he has a psychotic disorder which by today’s standard could be easily treated. In the days of Hamlet, medicine was not what it is today but regardless of that, he was not crazy.
Insanity is not possible in a case when someone is telling the audience that they’re insane. Hamlet admitted early in the play to being irrational and acting mad. He is solely acting like a madman to be excused for his actions. Attempting to murder King Claudius is nothing to take lightly – if his plot was somehow foiled, Hamlet would face an almost certain death. An insane person could not carefully plan a murder of such magnitude. Despite the fact that Hamlet was part of the family and within the same castle, he had to carefully plan every step he took to achieve his ultimate goal. Hamlet is seemingly more of a mastermind focused on executing his plan. “He seems to use [claims of insanity] as a tool or a veneer to act irrationally and assert his opinion about matters without being made accountable for them. Consequently, he is able to chastise his mother and uncle for their unholy alliance without himself getting into trouble” (Bali). Someone with a corrupt and evil plan would want to fly under the radar such as the way Hamlet did. The attitude towards the mentally ill was that they were harmless. If Hamlet could run around causing problems and people would think that he was just going crazy, why not carry that as far as he could go? By doing such, he could get closer to the king and attempt to kill him without raising much suspicion. Even by his planning of the play which tipped Claudius off on Hamlet’s knowledge of his fathers’ death, he was able to send a powerful message without anyone else being suspicious. The only one who was deeply bothered by that play immediately was Claudius, who had a guilty conscience. Claudius probably was remorseful for what he inflicted on Hamlet, and because he loved Gertrude he would allow Hamlet to act wild with little or no reprimanding. Claudius and Gertrude eventually suspected he was acting crazy, but at first he had them fooled. That seems like great work for an evil genius looking to fool everyone around him and get closer to completing his task of murder.
Aside from depression, Hamlet also was bi-polar.

There are four different types of bi-polar disorder. All of them involve clear changes in mood, energy, and activity levels. These moods range from periods of extremely “up,” elated, and energized behavior (known as manic episodes) to very sad, “down,” or hopeless periods (known as depressive episodes). Less severe manic periods are known as hypomanic episodes. After Hamlet’s father’s death, Hamlet was severely depressed, and says: "...Tis not alone my inky cloak, (good) mother, nor customary suits of solemn black, nor windy suspiration of forced breath, no nor the fruitful river in the eye, nor the dejected 'havior of the disage , together with all forms, [shapes] of grief, that can denote me truly..."(I.ii.76-83). While Hamlet has many downs he also has some ups. Hamlet is extremely joyful when he is about to reveal his uncle's secret to the kingdom with the players. "O God, your only a jig-maker. What should a man do but be merry? For look how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father died within's two hours" (III.ii.111-114). Hamlet was also known to lose his temper. While speaking to his mother he has an outburst of anger. It is a rather interesting piece of the play to see his mood shift and bounce off the

wall:
“Have you eyes? Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed and batten on this more? Ha, have you eyes? You cannot call it love, for at your age they hayday in the blood is tame, it's humble, and waits upon the judgement. And what judgment would step from this to this? sense sure you have, else could you not have, else could not have motion. But sure that sense is apoplexed, for madness would not err, nor sense to ecstasy was ne'er sothralled, but it reserved some quantity of choice to serve in such a difference. What devil wasn't that thusthath cozened you at hoodman-blind..." (III.iv.67-79)
Hamlet is expressing a slew of emotions throughout the tragedy. He can often be found bouncing from one emotion to the next with no control. It is hard to believe he had anything other than bi-polar disorder which effectively ate away at his ability to control emotions in any situation. Hamlet is clearly suffering from a bad case of bi-polar disorder with his frequent mood swings.
Insanity is certainly not the same thing as depression or bi-polar.

Hamlet does have depression and bi-polar disorder which is evident by his spontaneous actions and odd off-key behavior. But one must evaluate what he was dealing with before labeling him as crazy. Hamlet may not have been a perfect man, but he tried to do right for his father. If anyone was put into a mirrored situation, one would most likely act as combatively and oddly as Hamlet did. It is hard to make an exact medical diagnosis since Shakespeare only gave the audience a small glimpse into the life of Hamlet, but it was a big enough glimpse to see what was blatantly obvious and glowing in oddness. Hamlet may be one of Shakespeare’s most complex characters, and it is without a doubt he still intrigues audiences today. Hamlet has many issues which were examined closely throughout the ages. Hamlet was not insane given his circumstances, he was just ready for revenge, vengeance, and to make peace over a sticky

situation.