Depression in Hamlet

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In the playwright Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet often shows many signs of depression. It is argued whether he is putting on the act, or if he is actually severely depressed. I believe after the death of his father, Hamlet becomes very emotionally unstable. Three things affect Hamlet, the death of his father, the remarriage of his mother, and Ophelia. Hamlet contemplates death, and becomes prepared to die near the end of the play.

When Hamlet Senior dies Hamlet seems lost. Depression commonly follows a loved one’s death. He finds no true meaning in life. He wonders if we are only here to eat and sleep.

“What is a man/If his chief good and market of his time/ Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more./ Sure He that made us with such large discourse,/Looking before and after, gave us not/ That capability and godlike reason/ To fust in us unused. Now whether it be. Bestial oblivion or some craven scruple/ Of thinking too precisely on th’ event” (4.4 35-43).

In the following soliloquy Hamlet contemplates suicide.

“To be or not to be- that is the question:/Whether ‘tis nob...

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