Dying from Depression The main characters in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher In The Rye, Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being A Wallflower, and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet are known best for their mental instability. The three texts are centered around main characters that suffer losses during their childhood, and the ways the deaths affect them overall. All three stories, The Perks of Being A Wallflower, The Catcher In The Rye, and Hamlet, show that the death of someone close can cause one to become depressed and suicidal. Crumpled on the floor, alone, and wishing for death, suicidal thoughts begin to rush through the mind of Holden Caulfield. After not fulfilling a payment, an escort and an employee at the hotel Holden is staying at go back …show more content…
As a teenager, Hamlet loses his father to murder, and this event triggers Hamlet to become depressed and hurt deeply. When Gertrude questions her son’s choice to wear all black, Hamlet responds, “For they are actions that a man might play. But I have that within which passeth show, These but the trappings and the suits of woe” telling his mother there is more grief inside him than can be reflected (1.2.87-89). Hamlet tells his mother that all the black clothing he wears, and all the sobbing he does is only a hint of the grief that lays inside of him after his father’s death, and she realizes soon how greatly the death is affecting her son. Gertrude begins to notice her son’s grief taking ahold of him as Hamlet begins to spiral into insanity. Gertrude tells Claudius, “I doubt it is no other but the main: His father’s death and our o'erhasty marriage” about Hamlet’s depression and mental state (2.2.59-60). Soon, family and friends begin to see in Hamlet the depression he is driven to because of his father’s death, and his mother’s hasty remarriage. Less than two months after the King of Denmark died, Gertrude wed Claudius, her late husband’s brother. This marriage caused the grief of Hamlet to spiral even more into rage and depression, as he could not do anything to fix all the problems with the royal family. Hamlet’s anger towards his mother’s remarriage and the death of his father intertwine, creating an even more vengeful young man, as he yells at his mother, “A bloody deed—almost as bad,good mother, as kill a king and marry with his brother” (3.4.34-35). Just trying to deal with the grief of his father’s death, the wedding added to the pressures of Hamlet’s teenage life, and the depression he was already
The critics who perceived this book's central theme to be teen-age angst miss the deep underlying theme of grief and bereavement. Ambrosio asks the question, "Is silence for a writer tantamount to suicide? Why does the wr...
Hamlet loved his father the way that any child does. A part of him and his life was taken from him when he heard of his father’s death. Instead of spending time with her son like she should have been, Gertrude was spending more time with her quickly married husband, Claudius. This quick marriage to Claudius made Hamlet wonder if his father had just died, or if he was murdered. If his father was murdered, his mother must have known about the murder, or she would not have married Claudius so quickly. Gertrude was absent in Hamlets life too often, which turned him to acting like he was crazy.
The king was murdered, and Hamlet's mother, Gertrude, progresses immediately over her husband's death. Then she gets courted to Hamlet's uncle to maintain her crown. The love Hamlet has for his father never diminishes unlike his mother who weds after two months. Young Hamlet declines to recognize that his dad's death was from unnatural causes. Hamlet cannot make out what to do with his life. He declares
In J. D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield exhibits many symptoms that can be directly linked to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, as well as other forms of grievance. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental illness which generally implicates exposure to trauma from single events that oftentimes involve death. It is frequently divided into three main categories: Reliving the Past, Detachment and Agitation. When analyzing the novel itself, it can be viewed as one large flashback in which Holden is constantly reflecting on past occurrences: “I’ll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy” (Salinger, 1). It is a mental illness that can sometimes occur in teenagers as a response to a sudden traumatic experience or abandonment.
Hamlet, a young prince preparing to become King of Denmark, cannot understand or cope with the catastrophes in his life. After his father dies, Hamlet is filled with confusion. However, when his father's ghost appears, the ghost explains that his brother, Hamlet's Uncle Claudius, murdered him. In awe of the supposed truth, Hamlet decides he must seek revenge and kill his uncle. This becomes his goal and sole purpose in life. However, it is more awkward for Hamlet because his uncle has now become his stepfather. He is in shock by his mother's hurried remarriage and is very confused and hurt by these circumstances. Along with these familial dysfunctions, Hamlet's love life is diminishing. It is an "emotional overload" for Hamlet (Fallon 40). The encounter with the ghost also understandably causes Hamlet great distress. From then on, his behavior is extremely out of context (Fallon 39). In Hamlet's first scene of the play, he does not like his mother's remarriage and even mentions his loss of interest in l...
The Catcher in the Rye by, J.D. Salinger is told through Holden the narrative in the story. The setting of the novel takes place in the 1940's early 1950's. Holden is sixteen years old and he has a lot of problems in his life. He becomes seriously depressed to the point he cannot deal with people and life around him. The 1940's were different from today. However, Holden Caulfield is similar to many other teenagers who go through the same problems.
Manic-Depressive Behavior Exhibited in The Catcher in the Rye. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, portrays Holden Cawfield, a New York City teenager in the 1950's, as a manic-depressive. Holden's depression starts with the death of his brother, Allie. Holden is expelled from numerous schools due to his poor academics, which are brought on by his depression. Manic depression, compulsive lying, and immaturity throughout the novel characterize Holden.
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.
After the death of Old Hamlet and Gertrude’s remarriage to Claudius, Hamlet feels extremely angry and bitter. “How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world!” (1.2.133-134). Due to the death of his father, he is already in a state of despair and the lack of sympathy that his mother has towards his sorrow does not aid him in recovering from this stage of grief. “Good Hamlet, cast thy knighted colour off, / And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark” (1.2.68-69). Hamlet is struggling to accept the fashion in which Gertrude is responding to the death of Old Hamlet; she seems quite content with her new life with Claudius, which is a difficult concept for him to accept as after the d...
The relationship between Hamlet and Gertrude is strained at first. From the beginning of the play to act III, Hamlet is bitter with his mother. He feels this way because it has been less than four months since the death of his biological father, yet she is already remarried to Claudius. He feels his father is being betrayed from her lack of mourning. She tells her son to "cast thy nighted color off" (I.ii.68) and "all that lives must die" (I.ii.72). Clearly, she isn't grieving over her late husband's death and instead puts forth an optimistic attitude to her new husband and life. Gertrude's concern with Hamlet's odd behaviour after his encounter with Ophelia in act II scene i also shows the strain in their relationship. For example, she agrees with Claudius' words that "of Hamlet's transformation" (II.ii.5) and suggests Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy and find out the underlying cause of her son's problems. In addition to that, she consents Polonius to hide behind the tapestry in act III scene iv without Hamlet knowing. These two decisions suggest their inability to communicate. Instead, spying is required for Gertrude to find out about her son's inner mentality. The mother and ...
In the beginning of Hamlet, the Prince behaves as any normal person would following the death of a loved one. Not only is this a loved one, but an extra special someone; it is his loving father whom he adored. Hamlet is grief stricken, depressed, and even angry that his mother remarried so soon after his father’s death. Having witnessed how his father had treated his mother with great love and respect, Hamlet cannot understand how his mother could shorten the grieving period so greatly to marry someone like Uncle Claudius. He is incapable of rationalizing her deeds and he is obsessed by her actions.
Hamlet’s attachment to his mother was quickly made evident within the first act of the famous tragedy. Hamlet, who sulks around wearing black clothing to mourn the death of his father, first speaks in the play to insult his stepfather. He voices his distaste at his new relationship with his uncle by criticizing that they are, “A little more than kin and less than kind” (I.ii.65). He believes that it is unnatural for his uncle to also be his father, and eagerly jumps at an opportunity to offend Claudius. However, Hamlet acts entirely different towards his mother, despite his poor attitude....
Gertrude influenced Hamlet significantly throughout the course of the play. Hamlet was very angered by his mother's remarriage. A few months after his father's death, Gertrude married Claudius, Hamlet's uncle. He was driven mad when his father's ghost appeared to him and revealed that Claudius was responsible for the death of Old Hamlet. Hamlet even termed the marriage as incest. Hamlet's fury is displayed when he throws his mother on the bed and says, "Frailty, thy name is woman" (Act #. Scene #. Line #). This shows his extent of anger because he makes a generalization that all women are weak. As a result of his mother's actions, Hamlet strives to seek revenge against Claudius for the death of his father. In order to marry Gertrude, Claudius kills his brother. Therefore, Gertrude is the driving factor for the whole setup of the play.
Old Hamlet is killed by his brother Claudius. Only two months after her husband’s death a vulnerable Gertrude marries her husband’s brother Claudius. Gertrude’s weakness opens the door for Claudius to take the throne as the king of Denmark. Hamlet is outraged by this, he loses respect for his mother as he feels that she has rejected him and has taken no time to mourn her own husband’s death. One night old Hamlets ghost appears to prince Hamlet and tells him how he was poisoned by his own brother. Up until this point the kingdom of Denmark believed that old Hamlet had died of natural causes. As it was custom, prince Hamlet sought to avenge his father’s death. This leads Hamlet, the main character into a state of internal conflict as he agonises over what action and when to take it as to avenge his father’s death. Shakespeare’s play presents the reader with various forms of conflict which plague his characters. He explores these conflicts through the use of soliloquies, recurring motifs, structure and mirror plotting.
Hamlet is a paradox; he is a perplexing character that throughout the play has more to show. Hamlet is a person of contradictions he is inquisitive and profound yet indecisive. The experiences Hamlet goes through led to dramatic changes in his character. In the beginning we are introduced to a young man who is mourning for the death of his father and struggling with the sudden marriage of his mother to his uncle. Hamlet faces the dilemma of wanting to avenge his father’s death and suppressing his intense emotions in order to calculate a plan.