Is Hamlet Mad?

... Is Hamlet Mad? In the fourth and fifth century B.C, melancholia was described as a disease, written by Hippocrates. It was though that it was caused by the dislike of food, despondency, sleeplessness, irritability and restlessness. It is now thought that melancholia is the same as our modern day clinical depression. In the time of Hamlet, cause of illness was based on the theory of 'the four humours', which stated that the bodily fluids; blood, yellow bile, phlegm and black bile all had to be balanced to maintain a healthy being. Each fluid was allied with the four elements; air, fire water and earth. It was thought that Hamlet had excess black bile; black bile was allied with the Earth element and meant that a person with too much of it would be gluttonous, lazy and sentimental, and had a melancholic disposition. In society today depression is not thought of being

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