Sara Schlemm, a PhD candidate in the English department at Cornell University, led a discussion on melancholy and its differences compared with sadness in the recent Rose Cafe. Coming into the discussion, I had honestly seen the words as synonymous, but in fact, the portrayal of the two in areas like literature and film is quite different. We established early on the in the discussion that melancholy is perhaps a more profound word in the sense that it refers more to a mood than a pure emotion. In literature for example, Hamlet certainly illustrates this when his father dies, and his mother and Claudius prepare to get married. He chastises them for not recognizing the gravity of his father’s death, as it is clear they do not share his contemplative state. Hamlet does indeed experience sadness, but his contemplative and reflective state adds significant weight and meaning. In Vertigo, we see again that melancholy manifests itself in a manner that is far more profound than simple sadness. Kim Novak’s character exhibits a deeper state in a number of ways: she attempts to imitate the appearance and life of a female in a painting that clearly captivates her, and the interaction with the detective in the forest reveals her belief in the meaninglessness of life.

While both Hamlet and Kim Novak’s character’s melancholy perhaps led them far too astray, an interesting idea we touched on in the discussion is the value and maybe even the necessity of a small degree of sadness or melancholy in our lives. Indeed, the popular film Inside Out attempts to illustrate that some melancholy can enrich the experiences of our lives and allow us to develop a deeper appreciation for our existence.