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Duncan's Mental Illness In Macbeth

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Macbeth, also referred to as the Thane of Glamis, Cawdor, and King of Scotland, was considered a brave general of Scotland. He fought countless battles while Scotland was under the rule of King Duncan, but how did these countless battles affect the mental health and wellbeing of brave Macbeth? Fighting in wars, as Macbeth did, exposes people to many traumatic events. which, over time, can develop into mental disorders. Earlier on in the play, the protagonist did not display clear signs of mental illness, but from the point in the story where he began to plot the murder of King Duncan, Macbeth started to show symptoms that are similar to BPD (borderline personality disorder). Borderline personality disorder is a mental illness that impacts one's …show more content…

In the first scene of Act 2, Macbeth begins to imagine a floating dagger in front of him (Macbeth, II., i, 33–64). Considering that not long before Macbeth had been plotting out the murder of Duncan, he expressed doubts to his wife, it is possible that this hallucination was a result of stress-related paranoia. He could not differentiate reality from fantasy and believed there to be a dagger floating midair before him. This type of paranoia can range in time from a few minutes to even hours, so Macbeth could’ve been stuck in this state of mind even when he was killing Duncan (Macbeth, II., ii, 14). The resurgence of this behaviour also appeared following the death of Banquo, when Macbeth hallucinated that the Ghost of Banquo had entered the room during his banquet (Macbeth, III., iv, …show more content…

Impulsive and risky behaviour Having BPD causes difficulty managing emotions and behaviours and can cause those with the disorder to make impulsive decisions. In the case of Macbeth, her impulsive and risky behaviour could have been the cause of Duncan’s death. Macbeth’s inner dark desires to be king (Macbeth, I., iv, 49–53) could have caused him to lose control of his BPD, resulting in the impulsive decision partially fuelled by paranoia to kill Duncan. Macbeth’s decision to visit the witches (Macbeth, IV., i, 48) can also be viewed as a risky behaviour, as he is not aware of the full capability of the witches but, to some extent, has an understanding of it. Despite that, he still chose to seek out the witches to assure his future on the

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