Mental Illness: Were They Aware? In the late 16th to the early 17th centuries, mental illness was often misinterpreted as witchcraft. William Shakespeare, a renowned writer, had a great understanding of this. He shows this through his writing, especially in Macbeth, by incorporating guilt, hallucinations, PTSD, and witchcraft for his audience. A private psychotherapist stated “William Shakespeare, the most brilliant psychotherapist who never once treated a patient.” (Berglas) His understanding for mental illness is what makes his work so in depth and it draws his audience in to the suspense and mystery. He leaves his audience saying “What is wrong with this character?” or “How could the people not see they are mentally sick!” or “We need to know more about this!”. What is a mental illness? A mental illness can be a wide range of conditions that affect mood, thinking, and behavior. There are more than 200 confirmed forms of mental illness. There are different ways to treat these forms of mental illness. But back in Shakespearean times, mental illness was not really understood. It was often times misinterpreted as witchcraft. This was a contradictory thing because women who were good with herbs, were able to help heal the sick because they could turn the herbs into great medicine. But then they were accused of witchcraft …show more content…
Some people actually do consider it to be a mental illness. Macbeth said guilt was “Life’s fitful fever”. (Macbeth. 3. 2. 23) Now, what does he mean by that? Macbeth got no happy satisfaction from killing Duncan. Instead of happiness, he describes what he feels as “life’s fitful fever”. Instead of being happy, the guilt comes in at random times and hits him like a hot fever. It caused him to have insomnia. Insomnia is the absence of sleep. Him and Lady Macbeth suffered from the same “disease”. People in Shakespearean times often did not think of guilt as a mental illness as some do
Everyone has experienced some form of guilt and shame in their life. Webster’s dictionary defines guilt as “the state of one who has committed an offense especially consciously” and shame as “a painful emotion caused by the consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety.” Whether it be something small such as lying to an authority figure to horrific acts of murder, people feel guilty for the bad actions they’ve done. Depending on the person, this guilt can display in different ways: self-harm, suicidal thoughts or actions, depression, paranoia, and occasionally, hallucinations. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, guilt and shame influence the actions and behavior of Macbeth by manifesting into hallucinations, often resulting in doubts about his morality.
Guilt is definitely a disorder. It needs to be treated. This guilt is not the type where someone feels awful as someone falls off the bike and gets over with it within an hour or two. This guilt is the type where the survivors were going to live with it for years and they will have to
Macbeth vs. Mean Girls The word guilt can be defined as a bad feeling caused by knowing or thinking that a person themselves have done something bad or wrong. Whether it is an older time period or present day, in all medias of life today the impact of guilt is seen. For example, The tragedy of Macbeth is a short play that was written in 1606 by Shakespeare specifically for King James I.
A Guilty Conscience: How Guilt Drives the Powerful to Insanity Guilt is the cause of the destruction of many, particularly in Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth. As Macbeth and Lady Macbeth continue to murder for the sake of power, they embark on opposite journeys but their guilt ultimately drives them both to insanity. Macbeth goes from being driven mad with guilt, to his instability causing him to murder recklessly. His wife goes from expressing no compassion or guilt to her guilt overcoming her and driving her to madness.
Mentally Ill There are many different types of mental illnesses that usually originate from traumatic events that happen in one's life. Hamlet, the main character in the play Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare, went through multiple traumatic events. These events affected Hamlet’s mental health throughout the play. The events that led Hamlet to depression also led him to have bad thoughts and to do crazy things.
One of Shakespeare’s superlative examples of a troubled mind is located in Macbeth. The impertinent character Lady Macbeth exhibited many symptoms of depression and antisocial personality disorder. While mental illness is generally developed through an accumulation of several events, as it was in Lady Macbeth’s case, it was definitely more profound after the murder of King Duncan. Prior to killing the king, Lady Macbeth unveiled sociopathic behavior through her negligence of others.
Bryanna E. McCool Mrs. Dean British Literature 25 January 2018 Mental Illness in Shakespeare’s Macbeth The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, a play wrought with prophecies, deception, guilt, and death, brings light to the symptoms of mental illnesses and their effects on the human brain’s ability to reason, trust, and act in times of pressure. Both Macbeth and his lady are plagued by mental illness, and the effects of their illness only grow as the play evolves. Macbeth’s symptoms of schizophrenia and anxiety, as well as Lady Macbeth’s anxiety as well as hallucinations that eventually push her to suicide prove that not only can mental illness alter the way a person sees a situation, but it can also drive them to harm others and themselves.
Stages of this mental illness touched on by the playwright are the overpowering initial impact, difficulties sleeping, and the suicidal tendencies. In the moments subsequent to the treasonous murder of Duncan, Lady Macbeth feels an irrepressible amount of guilt. This occurrence is the root of her depression as she experiences the weight of her crime and needs to be “look[ed] to” (2.3.115) and “exit...helped” (2.3.Stage Directions). Subsequently, the shameful state of mind Lady Macbeth suffers provokes complications with her sleep. The queen’s “heart is sorely charged” (5.1.46) which “keep[s] her from her rest” (5.3.40).
One can fight the evil and the good we do in this world as long as we are completely aware and understand the things we are doing. Shakespeare believed that “madness was a disease of the brain, and could be cured by medical means, aided by judicious care and management” (Reiss 2005). They also believed that mental illness “often had a moral ctiology that is, it had roots in environmental, spiritual, or psychological disturbance” (Reiss 2005). “Lamb to the Slaughter,” “She told herself. So I’ve killed him.
“Lady Macbeth” is a 14-year-old female, currently inpatient at a hospital, for obsessive and compulsive behaviors. She reports that at age 13 these behaviors started to arise and she describes the rituals and thoughts that were present during this time. She says that she was afraid of germs that were on her clothes and on other things, so she would shake her clothes for a half hour before she felt comfortable putting them on her body. She stated that it would take her 6 hours to get ready to go out to do something socially because she would have to shower and would go over and over again cleaning herself, to the point that her hands would be cracked and bleeding. Soap and water became not enough for her to get clean so she began using rubbing
It is believed that Shakespeare also uses the element of insanity to create drama, keep readers engaged or even to draw attention to mental health. Shakespeare uses advanced language and in order to keep readers or audience members engaged in the events of the plays insanity could be a useful tool. Some people believe that Shakespeare used insanity in his plays to bring attention to the issue of mental health. This is a respectable assumption, because several of the issues that Shakespeare felt strongly about often appear in his plays. However, although these could play a role in why Shakespeare used insanity as such a big element in many of his plays, insanity wasn’t used in his plays to solely provide one service and “it is unwise to accept or portray the symptoms of madness in Shakespeare as a purely medical condition” (Madness).
This quote further proves that Lady Macbeth was displaying repressed guilt through her unconscious mind. Freud also explains that it is within human nature to feel guilt. In the play, human nature, in the sense of guilt, led to the downfall of Lady Macbeth’s character. This can also tie into an universal message from Shakespeare: guilt leads to
In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, guilt can punish people even if they are not caught, which is illustrated with the downfall of the Macbeths. Shortly after killing Banquo, Macbeth starts to hallucinate and says “Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence”(3.4.128-129). This quote shows that Macbeth feels guilt while he is imagining Banquo’s ghost.
As a result of the society’s lack of understanding concerning mental illnesses many teenagers suffer from disorders, which causes them to commit suicide if not given the proper treatment. Mental illness is a complicated concept to understand however it affects millions of people every day. “The term mental illness represents a mental, behavioral, or emotional ailment that causes impairment in functioning an interpersonal relationships and is sufficient enough in duration”(Mullen Crowe 401). When an individual hears someone say the term mental illness they may equate it to someone in a mental institution or someone who is “crazy”. This is a completely stereotypical way to think because mental diseases are much more complicated than that.
In an essay over the topic, Dr. Cornwall explains that human emotional suffering can lead to madness or insanity. Although, not many people would enjoy hearing the words,”you've gone insane,” come from someone that they trust to help them. The National institute of mental health rightly argues that mental illness is more than just a sugar coated way to say insane(Brain basics). After years studying about mental illness in the brain, the institute as well as many other doctors found that a mental disease is the same as a brain disease. As the brain changes and grows, so does the mentally of an individual, therefore forming mental illness.