World of Shakespeare:

Hamlet: Grief Session

Directions: You are a psychiatrist and have begun counseling a new patient recently. In a 250 word, one page typed paper, please file a report on your findings. Please use specific examples from Acts 1-4 to support you end recommendations. You are required to look at all of his soliloquies and dialogue, which should be used as direct conversations given in his therapy sessions.

Please follow the following rubric:

1.) Start with an opening paragraph which needs to state your overall opinion of Hamlet’s mental state. 20 points

2.) In your body, please detail 4 examples which support your thesis.
40 points

3.) Please end with a final paragraph restating your diagnosis. Please end your report with your recommendations. 20 points

4.) Paper is typed, with proper grammar and punctuation 20 points





Notes:
Probably the most well-known of these might be from Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' book, "On Death and Dying." In it, she identified five stages that a dying patient experiences when informed of their terminal prognosis.

The stages Kubler-Ross identified are:
Denial (this isn't happening to me!)
Anger (why is this happening to me?)
Bargaining (I promise I'll be a better person if...)
Depression (I don't care anymore)
Acceptance (I'm ready for whatever comes)

Many people believe that these stages of grief are also experienced by others when they have lost a loved one.
Personally, I think of these definitions as emotional behaviors rather than stages, per se. I believe we may certainly experience some of these behaviors. But, I believe just as strongly, that there is no script for grief; that we cannot expect to feel any of our emotions in a particular set pattern. I do agree that acceptance is probably the last emotion felt, and in some instances it may be the only one.
A lesser known definition of the stages of grief is described by Dr. Roberta Temes in the book, "Living With An Empty Chair - a guide through grief." Temes describes three particular types of behavior exhibited by those suffering from grief and loss.

They are:
Numbness (mechanical functioning and social insulation)
Disorganization (intensely painful feelings of loss)
Reorganization (re-entry into a more 'normal' social life.)