Abstract
In her article "Shakespeare’s Henry VI and Depression”, Cindy Chopoidalo discusses Shakespeare’s Henry VI plays not only as his first significant explorations of the tragic consequences of war and the price of ambition, but also as his first major treatment of a character who, in both fiction and reality, suffered from what has sometimes been described as severe clinical depression and what would have been known in Shakespeare’s time as melancholy. In Shakespeare’s Henry VI, as well as in his historical inspiration, we see an early counterpart of his later characters who have been linked to melancholy or depression, such as Jaques and Hamlet. Examining the historical and literary character(s) of Henry VI in light of both contemporary and modern models of depression, melancholy, and related mental conditions allows us to trace an early Shakespearean treatment of melancholy and depression as well as the ways in which this character type has been codified in various periods of literary and medical history.
Recommended Citation
Chopoidalo, Cindy.
"Shakespeare's Henry VI and Depression."
CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture
20.5
(2018):
<https://doi.org/10.7771/1481-4374.3392>
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