Essay On Mental Depression In Hamlet

There’s always a price to pay for revenge

What you plan may not always come out the way you desired in the end. Although Hamlet was intellectual when it came to his plans, he was overly obsessed with vengeance to kill Claudius, however is very indecisive whether or not to go on with his plan to kill him. In the play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Prince Hamlet lost his father and has been depressed ever since. His uncle Claudius took over the throne and married Hamlet’s mother Gertrude. Hamlet’s dead father appeared to him and said how Claudius killed him by putting poison into his ear. Hamlet seeks revenge for his dead father and wants to kill Claudius for his crime. Hamlet deals with many adversities with his family, friends, and himself.

In many cases Hamlet suffers from psychotic depression, in the article psychotic depression is when a person is delusional or is hearing or seeing things that others can’t; also known as hallucinations (“Depression”.1). When Hamlet confronts his mother, a ghost appears and Hamlet speaks to it and Gertrude very concerned says, “To whom do you speak this?”/and Hamlet replies, “Do you see nothing there?” (3.4.149-150). Gertrude doesn’t see or hear the ghost, however only Hamlet does. It’s possible that the ghost is just a figment of Hamlets imagination; he might have been hallucinating. Hamlet has many symptoms of depression such as hearing or seeing things that no one else sees and acts differently from when his father passed away and when he hears information about his father’s

Just a little after Claudius and Polonius left to spy on Hamlet, Hamlet speaks to himself, “To be or not to be -that is the question: / Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer…” (3.1.65-66). Hamlet believes life is not worth living, and in this soliloquy it mentions why people don’t have the will power to commit suicide. He says people don’t kill themselves because they are afraid of what happens after death. This tells us that Hamlet is looking for a reason for why he should or shouldn’t commit suicide. He thinks about why people avoid it and he hates the fact that’s it’s a sin to commit suicide. Hamlet’s depression has overcome his thoughts and is too focused on his revenge. His insanity caused him to have reckless behavior and has already hurt his mother by making her feel guilty for her actions. Therefore, Hamlet’s characteristics show that he’ll do whatever it takes to kill