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Aaron Williams
Ms. Galloway
College English
10 May 2013
Hamlets Father Traumatized Him
Hamlet was a man who was severally depressed from his fathers death, like any person
would be, but seeing his father in ghost form is what pushed him over the edge. After that he
starts suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD. Hamlet claims he
was just pretending to be crazy, but Horatio knew that he was going to become mad after chasing
Hamlet chased his fathers ghost into the forest. And there assume some other horrible form
which might deprive your sovereignty of reason and draw you into madness? (Shakespeare
1.4.72-74) Horatio knew what Hamlet was going through, he knows him better than anyone else
in the play and he knows Hamlet will not return sane, and in a way, Hamlet knew this too, which
is why he claims he is going to fake being mad (Hamlet).
Unfortunately, Hamlet is a bad actor and cannot even comprehend how someone could
claim to be who they are not. Is it not monstrous that this player here, But in a fiction, in a
dream of passion, could force his soul so to his own conceit. (Shakespeare 2.2.478-480). Which
shows that Hamlet does not even understand how one could act different, how someone could
warp their appearance to someone they are not. He is trying to mask his actual madness from
himself, but as the play goes on he starts to not being able to control his madness, and when he
kills Polonius his madness starts to control him. He wants to kill everyone and anyone who has
wronged him (Levy), O, from this time forth My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth!
(Shakespeare 4.5.66-67).

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In addition to Post Traumatic Stress disorder, some people have also considered that
Hamlet may be suffering from another mental disease known as erotomania. Scholars have long
noted the presence of erotomania in the play, a disease that supposedly induced irrationality and
distraction in virgins because of their lack of sexual intercourse. In short, they were made mad by
being a maid. In Hamlet, both Hamlet and Ophelia, in one way or another, suffer from this love
melancholy. (Hunt). With Hamlets brain being warped by two different mental diseases it is
easy to see how he could become so mad. Erotomania may also explain the madness that Ophelia
expresses during Act IV, although it could be implied in many places in the play that Hamlet and
Ophelia have conducted in coitus, it is never directly said, and with Hamlet still living with his
parents at age thirty and maybe have never even been attracted to another woman sexually other
than Ophelia, it is feasible that Hamlet could be suffering from erotomania (Hunt).
One of the biggest examples of Hamlets madness, specifically erotomania, is the way he
acts towards Ophelia. For example, in act two when Ophelia is talking to her father she says My
Lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced Pale as his
shirt, his knees knocking each other, and with look so piteous in purports (Shakespeare 2.1.7884). After seeing the ghost Hamlet goes to Ophelias room and seeks comfort from her, he is
muddy and his clothes are all undone, but instead of talking to her about what happened he just
stares at her for a while, then leaves the room. This shows that Hamlet is quite confused as to
what to do when he is in love, he cannot control his emotions for Ophelia and does not know
how to express them. The few times Hamlet expresses his love for Ophelia is through letters and
not face to face, and he even denies his love for Ophelia when she confronts him about all his
letters that he sent (Shakespeare 3.1.93-)

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The main argument for Hamlets madness is his suicidal thoughts and rants. Starting with
one of his famous speeches in Act One O, That this too too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and
resolve itself into a dew! (Shakespeare 1.2.129-130) and his most famous speech To be, or not
to be, that is the question (Shakespeare 3.1.56). These examples show just how mad Hamlet is
becoming, pondering over to whether to end his own life, which is the most horrific sin a human
could commit.
For the first twenty-nine years of Hamlets life he had a great time, leading a rich and
magnificent life as a prince, with great loving parents, but after his fathers death madness
overcame his life, and he achieved his goal of his thoughts being bloody.

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"Hamlet by William Shakespeare." Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Michelle Lee. Vol. 147.
Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2013. 142-223. Literature Criticism Online.
Gale.
Mid-Continent Public Library. 3 May 2013
Levy, Eric. "THE PROBLEMATIC RELATION BETWEEN REASON AND EMOTION IN
HAMLET." Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 53.2 (2001): 83. Literature
Resource Center. Web. 3 May 2013.
Hunt, Cameron. "Homophonic Hamlet: making Hamlet ma(i)d." The Explicator 67.3 (2009):
209+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 May 2013.
Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." Ed: X.J. Kennedy, Dana Gioia Literature: An Introduction to
Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. . Tenth. New York: Pearson, 2007. 14721588. Print.