Abstract
SHAKESPEARE was fascinated with the idea of madness. In fact, most Elizabethans were. Elizabethan drama began with a play about insanity—<i>The Spanish Tragedy, or Hieronimo Is Mad Again</i>. For the Elizabethan, a trip to the theatre was a movie, a television documentary, a Broadway musical, and a visit to a zoo or amusement park, all in one. Shakespeare was showman enough to capitalize on his audience's taste for the varied and bizarre. Each of his four major tragedies is a sensitive exploration of psychopathology.<i>Hamlet</i>portrays manic-depressive illness in Hamlet and schizoaffective disorder in Ophelia.<i>Macbeth</i>shows both major characters suffering from ambition that leads to crime and the punishment of depression. Lear has a mild organic brain syndrome that develops under stress into a reactive psychosis, while Gloucester becomes depressed and Edgar feigns classic schizophrenia as Poor Tom. Othello develops a suspiciousness bordering on paranoia, while Iago's delight
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