The Madness of Being Mad

The perception of the world can change dramatically over the course of a few hundred years. Take, for example, today's views on mental health versus they way people might have viewed mental disorders in the 16th century. An interesting examination of the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare shows that the title character is portrayed as mentally ill for reasons very different from our modern definition. As Prince of Denmark, Hamlet would be viewed as royalty; one who dresses in the finest fashion, dines on the best delicacies, and sleeps in the most comfortable bed. However, when Hamlet arrives in the royal court appearing disheveled, he is instantly thought to be mad. In Shakespeare's time, it was believed that a person was crazy if he/she behaved like a fool, dressed poorly, and/or was unclean. As Hamlet's love interest Ophelia describes his appearance, he had "his doublet all unbraced,/no hat upon his head, his stockings fouled,/ ungartered, and down-gyved to his ankle," (2.1.88-90). Anyone not conforming to societal normalcy in Shakespeare's time was considered to be mentally ill.

Nowadays, acting against the societal status-quo is rarely defines a person as crazy or mad. The number of people diagnosed with mental illnesses in today's society far exceeds the number of affected people in any other time period. The prevalence of mental illness is probably what makes people with mental disorders more accepted in our society today. Rather than being defined by their appearance, like in Hamlet, mentally ill people are more likely to be labeled by their behavior and personal interactions with others. However, in the last few decades, we have aggressively spread our modern knowledge of mental illness around the world, believing that our approaches reveal the biological basis of psychological suffering and nullify myths and harmful stigma. Mental disorders such as depression, PTSD, and anorexia are fairly common illnesses that affect millions of people all over the world. And now with world-wide media coverage, awareness of mental illness is spreading across the globe through campaigns, fundraisers, and news sources. These methods of communication have helped break the stigmas that accompany many mental disorders. Modern medicine has helped create cures for some disorders and has been able to control the symptoms of many more. Our world is constantly changing, and with it, our views.


Bold words:
doublet: a close-fitting jacket  
unbraced: unfastened
fouled: dirty
down-gyved to his ankle: fallen down around his ankles like gyves or chains