Hamlet: Insanity or Mere Acting?

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Today there is more awareness about mentally ill people, and for a good reason: not because new disorders are being supposedly invented to excuse behavior, but because new disorders are being discovered. Modern psychology started in 1897 (Myers 3), and from there on, the human race slowly progressed to understanding the workings of the mind. Not everything is known, and some aspects will surely remain mysteries, but with knowledge comes the ability to be able to help people correctly, not send them off to England to their death “The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England” (IV-III-67). Therefore, through Hamlet’s actions, we can find out if Hamlet truly is insane, or whether he is really just an amazing actor. The DSM-V defines Paranoid Personality …show more content…

The main object of his procrastination is the murder/assassination/revenge for his father of his uncle Claudius. The entire play he keeps on trying to kill Claudius, and just when it looks like he’ll do something, he chickens out. “Now I might do it pat. Now he is a-praying./And now I’ll do ‘t. And so he goes to heaven./And so I am revenged.--That would be scanned” (3.3.74-76). He says “I’ll do it” twice in a row. Claudius is praying, he isn’t seeing Hamlet, it’s a perfect opportunity. But why doesn’t he just get it over with? Ph.D. dude Piers Steel said: Depression heightens procrastination in two major ways. First, it saps your energy, and we all tend to put things off when we get tired; being exhausted is actually the number one reason for procrastination. Second, it increases your feelings of helplessness, to the point where you feel nothing you do makes a difference. When you lack confidence in your ability to complete a task, you are much more likely to procrastinate.” So if Hamlet is suffering from depression, then him procrastinating is a likely affect, a subconscious attempt to put off grueling tasks for later. He also exhibits no pleasures in his usual activities as he tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in his explanatory, albeit confusing speech: “I have of late--but wherefore I know not--lost all/my mirth, forgone all custom of …show more content…

In Hamlet’s case, it’s kill his father, no matter who ends up being murdered in the way. “How all occasions do inform against me,/And spur my dull revenge!” (4.4.31-32). “I do not know/Why yet I live to say “This thing’s to do,”/Sith I have cause and will and strength and means/To do’t” (4.4.42-45). And, of course: “Oh, from this time forth,/My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth” (4.4.64-65). A quite stark contrast from what was previously examined, his procrastination and seeming unwillingness to off Claudius. He suddenly clenches his fist like an anime protagonist, and is ready to kill, which, thankfully to spare from awkward transitions, shows off the trait of taking part in risky activities that have some painful consequences, (and they do, judging by the end of the book). His rashness in all of his decisions could very well then indicate a bipolar

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