Macbeth, is a tragedy where madness is a prominent theme. The play begins with Macbeth and Banquo learning of a prophecy, telling of how Macbeth shall become King of Scotland and Banquo’s descendants will reign afterwards. Since they had learned of it, Macbeth and his wife, who learned of the prophecy, acted in inconceivable ways, prompting the signs of how something was wrong psychologically. In Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth and his wife exhibit signs of mental health disorders in their actions of everyday life. Psychology is the study of the human mind and how it affects the behaviors of humans, (“Psychology”).
Aristotle was one of the first people to study how the human mind worked and as time passed the importance of mental health became more apparent for people to be rational and prevent irrational actions, (“Psychology”). Psychosis is a mental disorder where a person suffering from a psychotic break loses touch with reality, (“Richman”). Someone who lives with psychosis are plausibly suffering from Schizophrenia. They have a tendency towards developing difficulty communicating and functioning normally in everyday life and experiencing delusions and hallucinations (“Psychosis” and “Schizophrenia”). Anxiety is a feeling that a looming issue or problem is coming, causing it to seem to be fear, (“Anxiety”). The mental disorders that plague the Macbeth’s is anxiety which develops into psychosis and ultimately leading to schizophrenia.
