Through careful analysis of the behaviors of William Shakespeare’s character Macbeth, it can be inferred that Macbeth was probably suffering from Schizophrenia, because he had hallucinations, delusions, and a reduced emotional attachment to things. As defined by the National Institute of Mental Health, “Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental disorder that affects the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves.” This mental illness is also typically caused by genes or brain chemistry, or by psychosocial or environmental factors. It is always possible that Macbeth had a genetic problem before the events of this play came about, but because the readers have no knowledge of that it is only reasonable to infer that his Schizophrenia was triggered by stress and the witches’ prophecies.
Lady Macbeth is not to be discarded when discussing the factors that led to her husband’s development of schizophrenia. Sly, cunning, and manipulative, Lady Macbeth was the ultimate reason that Macbeth fell in the line of the prophecy. While Macbeth initially felt uneasy about killing King Duncan, who at this time felt comfortable enough with Macbeth to promote him to Thane of Cawdor, Lady Macbeth had absolutely no problem with devising the plan. However, despite his reluctance in carrying out the plan, Macbeth still kills King Duncan and sets into stone the prophecies of the witches. Macbeth’s eagerness to trust these women despite their oddness shows what little mental clarity he had going into the play.
Macbeth begins hallucinating, like in Act II when the future king sees a floating dagger only minutes before he kills King Duncan.
“Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?”
This hallucination, and Macbeth’s acknowledgement of it and further communication with it allows for the readers to experience the beginnings of a mental break. After he goes out of his way to kill Banquo to insure the second prophecy doesn’t come true is when Macbeth sees a ghost of Banquo at the supper. Once again, Macbeth speaks to the ghost and while that ghost doesn’t speak back it is clear that Macbeth is very shaken by the appearance of his recently murdered friend. Many people with schizophrenia experience problems with separating visions from reality. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, hallucinations “include a person hearing voices, seeing things, or smelling things others can’t perceive.” To people suffering from schizophrenia, hallucinations can be dehabilitating, with many even obey hallucinated commands. Macbeth is clearly seeing things, but through the entirety of the play he hears voices talking to him. All of the symptoms described could easily lead to a schizophrenic break. The stress that comes with fulfilling a prophecy, as well as knowing Fleance is alive would be enough to trigger a schizophrenic break within Macbeth.
Macbeth mental stability clearly begins to unwind he faces mounting stress and doom. His instability begins to decline when he murders people based on the prophecy of weird strangers. Macbeth may have schizophrenia, especially because of his hallucinations. More specifically, Macbeth would be diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, because he experiences severe and very vivid paranoia surrounding the prophecies of the witches.
Works Cited
Crowther, John, ed. “No Fear Macbeth.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 24 Feb. 2019.
“NAMI.” NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness, www.nami.org/learn-more/mental-health-conditions/schizophrenia.
“Schizophrenia.” National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml.
2019-2-24-1551019573