Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Was Shakespeare mad?

By Cireena Simcox - posted Wednesday, 8 March 2006


While the appearance of the ghost has been verified and, indeed introduced by others, it is only Hamlet who sees the apparition in Gertrude’s closet. Hamlet’s conversation with Gertrude at this time is typical of a person in a manic episode as above, so it is possible that, on this occasion, the ghost is actually an hallucination. This would then explain Hamlet’s cavalier attitude towards having murdered an innocent bystander - albeit one concealed behind an arras - as well as the prurient unreason of his interest in his mother’s sex life.

What is amazing about Hamlet in the light of recent psychological knowledge is how the portrayal of madness deviates from the traditional public concept of lunacy which existed when it was written. It is this departure which may partially contribute to it being regarded as a problem text.

To enact madness in early modern times was to portray hysteria or testeria in recognisable forms. The conventional mad person on-stage was “the jilted lover gone demented” (Ophelia) or the ranting religious maniac; and standard actions such as muttering gibberish, and tearing off one’s clothes epitomised madness in the public mind. It is important to remember also that, unlike witchcraft, there was no body or person who could be considered an authority upon madness.

Advertisement

The definition of madness was constantly being renegotiated with regard to questions such as religion, philanthropy (a 19th century English farmer was once confined to an asylum for paying his labourers above the award rate) or passion. Madness was also situational and so could include a new mother with what we now call post partum depression, an attempted suicide or even the topsy-turvy world of Carnival where everyone was expected to go a little mad.

In light of the above therefore, perhaps it is not beyond the bounds of probability that Shakespeare, one of the greatest creative geniuses of English literature, could have been thus afflicted. We know he spent many years apart from his family; he didn’t carouse with his colleagues Jonson and Marlowe; he didn’t commemorate the death of either his father or son in verse as would seem natural to one who expressed himself through his pen; and, while regarded as “gentle”, “honey-tongued” and “sweet”, he left a public indictment of his wife through his will wherein she was only to receive the famous “second-best bed”.

The discovery that he suffered from a mental illness of this kind would help explain the anomalies and confusions that have arisen over the centuries regarding his personality. If nothing else such a theory at least provides food for thought! 

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. Page 3
  5. All

Article edited by Lynda White.
If you'd like to be a volunteer editor too, click here.



Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

10 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Cireena Simcox has been a journalist and columnist for the last 20 years and has written a book titled Finding Margaret Cavendish. She is also an actor and playwright .

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Cireena Simcox

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Article Tools
Comment 10 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy