Briana Ransford
Ms. Comtois
British Literature
5-18-09
Depression in Hamlet and Ophelia!
Throughout the play Hamlet, there are occurrences of depression and how the
characters dealt with their feelings. Most of the characters dealt with their anger and
sadness in different ways. Ophelia and Hamlet are the main source of depression and also
the most obvious. Although Shakespeare never openly reveals that his characters have
any sure signs of depression, there are multiple clues throughout the play that they were
in fact depressed in some way. Whether it was the revealing truth about is father’s
murder, or the pain of a breakdown relationship, Ophelia and Hamlet both undergo
extreme amounts of tragedy and frustration, which in return developed into depression
and obvious mental problems. Women in the Romantic Period were also major roles for
developing Shakespeare’s plays because of the various ways they were downgraded and
unequally privileged. There is no doubt that depression and gender roles affected Hamlet,
even though they were not directly stated within the play.
Preceding the news of Hamlet’s death, Hamlet acts out of revenge. He also
develops feelings of guilt and anger and possibly depression. No doubt a death in itself is
a tragedy, but when that person is your father and was murdered by your uncle who
marries your mother, there might be some hard feelings. In most cases the death of a
parent is enough to get anyone depressed, but on top of that Hamlet finds out that his
mother is a whore and his uncle is taking the throne. Hamlet was supposed to take the
throne preceding his father’s death but his mother’s orders prevailed, stripping him of the
kingdom and creating the humiliation of his uncle’s ridicule. Hamlet is faced with a
variety of problems, but he truly did go crazy in the play. In the beginning it was clearly
an act, but as the play progressed so did a sense of depression and mass amounts of anger
within Hamlet. He was often seen acting crazy throughout the castle, throwing himself
around like he couldn’t feel anything.
Because he was pretending to be crazy, Ophelia was affected very much. Just
seeing Hamlet in such a low state, made Ophelia herself go crazy. This was one of the
reasons for her being depressed. Another reason for her depression is obviously the fact
that her lover killed her father, Polonius. And not too soon after her dear brother was
murdered in a dual. If Hamlet and Ophelia never gotten into a fight about marriage and
their relationship before Ophelia probably would not have ended up killing herself and
Hamlet would have his mind set on hating all women. Once Hamlet is seen frolicking
throughout the castle acting like a mad man, it looked like Hamlet in fact was getting
depressed and crazy for real. All of his emotions were bottled up inside him to conceal
his revengeful plot against King Claudius, thus making him feel overwhelmed and
vulnerable. He was truly and sincerely depressed.
According to the National Institute of Health, “Symptoms of depression may
include: difficulty concentrating, feelings of guilt and worthlessness, irritability and
restlessness, thoughts of suicide or suicide attempts.”(Perspectives). Because of this bit
of information it is realized that all these symptoms either reflected feelings of Hamlet or
Ophelia. Also examples from the text support the theory. “For it cannot be but I am
pigeon-livered and lack gall.” (117). This was spoken by Hamlet referring to the plan he
was going to do to make his uncle admit to killing his father. But at the start of this
famous speech, Hamlet is cynical and questioning life or death. He is seen sitting and
saying death would be sweeter than life and that he wanted to kill himself. Not only is
suicide an obvious symptom of depression and madness, suicide justifies the point that
was clearly understated. That point being that the characters in Hamlet had mental
problems and possibly depression. Now if that is not depressing or mentally
wrong…what is?
Another interesting subject in Hamlet is that men and women diagnosed with
depression often deal with their emotions differently. Men lash out in sudden
uncontrollable spurts of violence, when women tend to stray on the safe side, concealing
their emotions and loathing in self-pity. Both thought are known to take drastic measures
to “mend” their troubles. This method is suicide. According to USA Today Magazine,
“Many studies have identified a strong link between suicide and diagnosable mental
illness, especially depression. So, because women suffer from depression at a much
higher rate than men, they would seem to be at higher risk for suicide. Yet, women
actually commit suicide about one-fourth as often as men.”(USA). Women usually keep
their emotions inside while men typically lash out in sudden actions of anger or
aggression. “Females suffer more from internalizing problems, including depression and
anxiety, while males predominate in externalizing problems, which include delinquency,
aggression, and substance abuse.” (Social). In social studies, women were found to be
less likely to actually commit suicide, but were more likely to plan out how they would
attempt to do it. Males on the other hand, put less thought into planning suicide and are
more likely to just do it on he spur of the moment. This evidence is actually not like the
plot of Hamlet at all. Hamlet and Ophelia are both depressed, but Ophelia successfully
commits suicide at the end of the play. Hamlet is extremely torn up inside emotionally
due to his dilemmas with his father’s murder and the fact that his uncle has married his
mother and taken the throne.
Meanwhile Hamlet’s friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, speak to the queen
about their concern with Hamlet’s behavior. “Nor do we find him forward to be sounded,
But with a crafty madness keeps aloof when we would bring him on to some confession
of his true state.” (123). Although the whole point of Hamlet acting mad in the beginning
of the play was to put on an act to conceal his true intentions, every character within the
play felt he was truly going mad. All of Hamlet’s friends and family whole heartedly
believing that he was insane, helped conclude that he in fact was going “mad”.
One of those people was Ophelia, Hamlet’s lover, who was so torn up about
Hamlet’s actions that she herself went crazy. How could someone that Hamlet was
talking about marrying look at Hamlet and truly think that he was ok? It just does not
seem likely. She knew deep down that Hamlet was hurting inside and cynical about the
past that she herself grew into depression because there was nothing she could do about
it. Also, Ophelia is acting like Hamlet’s behavior is due to her own actions. This makes
Ophelia feel symptoms of guilt and regret. The fact that her father was accidentally
murdered by the man she loves adds more reasoning to the depression she might be
feeling. “I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife; I thought thy bride-bed to
have decked, sweet maid, and not have strewed thy grave.” (253). Suicide as extreme as
it is, is an ultimate example of a depressed person. Ophelia killed herself, proving the
point that she was genuinely depressed and mentally unstable.
Women in Hamlet are also seen as weak, impractical creatures that are far less
superior to men. This adds to Ophelia’s depression because she feels that her feelings are
not really heard, just merely looked over. Most women in Shakespeare’s plays probably
felt that they were unimportant and sub pare to men. Hamlet has countless occurrences
where the people in the audience see the true side to the women in Shakespeare’s plays.
Most often, the women are given better view by the outside looking in. The characters
within the play see women as the weak vulnerable people that they are stereotyped to be.
But Shakespeare sets up his plays so that the audience can see that women are actually
important impacts to them. For instance, Ophelia was a relatively unimportant part of the
plot, but her impact of emotional instability and love for Hamlet let the audience know
that she was an influence to the emotions of others. Her love for Hamlet and the death of
her father, all helped to unravel the pain that she felt from the inside. Her depression was
the perfect disguise that concealed the power that Ophelia did in fact have upon the play.
If Ophelia was not so depressed then she could have represented a strong feminine figure,
but she was seen as a weak and under estimated individual. Her father used her against
her will to get to Hamlet, which ultimately ripped them apart for good. She was forever
seen as just another conniving woman in Hamlet’s life. Shakespeare definitely took her
feelings as a symbol for weakness and her depression as a way to thicken the plot in
addition to detail. She was misunderstood and used and that is the way that Hamlet saw
her. He saw her as a pawn in the scheme that helped him reveal his uncle’s nasty murder.
On the other hand Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, was in fact the queen, but still
possessed no power over her own country. This had much to do with the time period and
the belief that women would never be the equal to men, therefore condemning her sub
pare to Hamlet and especially her new husband King Claudius. The romantic period was
a fundamental time period that doubted and debated the role of women and the belief that
they are unequal. Some women tried to prove themselves equivalent to men, but were
mostly unsuccessful. Shakespeare uses the roles of women to his advantage, sometimes
adding a hidden meaning to his feminine characters. Some of his women have been
relatively unimportant to the actual plot, but have added their own spice to the ending or
the deeper meaning of the plays.
In conclusion, even though Shakespeare never openly stated depression, we can
determine that Hamlet and definitely Ophelia were mentally unstable and conflicted.
With evidence from the text, we can determine that symptoms of depression have
occurred, thus making the theory that Shakespeare’s charters were unhappy and
sometimes drastic with their emotions. Gender roles were very much so present, which
also adds context and background for Hamlet. Women were seems as unequal to men,
which gave Ophelia even more reasoning to be depressed. Shakespeare is no doubt
known for his tragedies and heartbreaking plays but the underlying problems are often
overseen. Hamlet was filled with depression and mental instability.
Works Cited
"Gender, race, and the Self in mental health and crime." Social Problems 53.2 (May 2006). Rosenfield,
Sarah, Julie Phillips, and Helene White General OneFile. 12 Jan. 2009
<http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.
Lawrence, Elizabeth, Elizabeth L. Jeglic, Laura T. Matthews, and Carolyn M. Pepper. "Gender differences in
grief reactions following the death of a parent." Omega - The Journal Of Death And Dying
(Farmindale) 52.4 (July 2006): 323(15). General OneFile. Gale. Granby Jr./Sr. High School. 12 Jan. 2009
<http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.
De Coster, Stacy. "Depression and law violation: Gendered responses to gendered stresses." Sociological
Perspectives 48.2 (Summer 2005): 155(33). General OneFile. Gale. Granby Jr./Sr. High School. 12 Jan.
2009
<http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.
Paykel, E.S. "Depression in women." British Journal of Psychiatry 158 (May 1991): 22(8). General
OneFile. Gale. Granby Jr./Sr. High School. 12 Jan. 2009
<http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.
Hopcroft, Rosemary L., and Dana Burr Bradley. "The sex difference in depression across 29
countries." Social Forces 85.4 (June 2007): 1483(25). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Granby
Jr./Sr. High School. 8 Jan. 2009
<http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.
Meadows, Sarah O. "Evidence of parallel pathways: gender similarity in the impact of social support on
adolescent depression and delinquency." Social Forces 85.3 (March 2007): 1143(25). Opposing Viewpoints
Resource Center. Gale. Granby Jr./Sr. High School. 8 Jan. 2009
<http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS>.
USA Today (Magazine) | April 1, 2001 | COPYRIGHT 2001 Society for the Advancement of
Education.http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-73236189.html