Hamlet: A Devastating Depression

Hamlet: A Devastating Depression

In Act 1 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, Hamlet is informed that his father’s death was in fact a murder committed by his father’s own brother Claudius.   Claudius then takes over the throne which is rightfully Hamlets and marries Hamlets mother Gertrude.   What degree of sadness would you be experiencing at this time?   Would you be in “a state of sadness or melancholia that has advanced to the point of being disruptive to [your] social functioning”? (Global Oneness, “Clinical Depression”).   This is the definition of clinical depression or melancholia and I feel that at this stage of the play it is affecting Prince Hamlet deeply.   Hamlet’s life experiences and social environment are the two main contributing factors to his depressed state of mind.

There are many signs and causes associated with clinical depression.   The first cause that we see in Act 1 affecting Hamlet is “specific, distressing life events” (Global Oneness, “Clinical Depression”).   First and foremost there is the loss of his father King Hamlet who he later finds out was murdered by Claudius.   Another life experience which strikes Hamlet with great devastation is the marriage between his mother and Claudius not long after his father’s death.   The bitterness which Hamlet feels towards Claudius is expressed when Hamlet says “A little more than kin and less than kind”. [I.ii.68].   The true level of depression which Hamlet is feeling at this time could be much greater than we see on the surface as it is a common idea that Hamlet may have been romantically in love with his mother Gertrude but evidence of this is not present until after Ophelia’s death later on in the play .   The betrayal he feels by his mother has “shattered his opinion of womanhood”.   Hamlet expresses this by saying “Frailty, thy name is woman.” [I.ii.146].   A sign that these events are putting Hamlet in a state of melancholia is his feeling of overwhelming sadness (Canadian Mental...