In this seminar we learned that one of the  main differences between sadness and melancholy is that melancholy is rather a state a being, than a fleeting emotion. Throughout modern history, there have been several things that are associated with melancholy, such as black bile, earthiness, madness, genius, and words. This is especially true in the Elizabethan era, where it was common belief that people had humors and that black bile was a symptom of melancholy. Melancholy seems to have been a major idea in Elizabethan times, when looking at Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This play is renown for its intricate weaving in and out of madness and melancholy. Hamlet has been struck with melancholy after his father’s death, and the state in which he finds himself is past sadness, it is a state which seems to be never ending, it is melancholy. Due to his state, Hamlet acts and speaks sometimes irrationally, but at times the irrational words that he says are perfectly sensible, given his state.

This made me wonder, within the state of melancholy, is madness something that makes sense? Sara said that sometimes melancholy is so extreme that it is interpreted as fake. To what extent are our suspicions right? Melancholy seems to be so mysterious. One of the biggest takeaways from the discussion was that it’s about how we’re melancholy, not whether we are.This seems to hold true in the excerpts from the movie Vertigo, where we saw how the main character manifested melancholy after he saw his friend die. His melancholy manifests itself by him falling in love with Madeline, and through her, he is curing his melancholy.

This gives melancholy a positive aspect, for it is curable. Scotty’s melancholy is cured by breaking the fantasy of the thing he had lost. That could be the case with all of us. We may be in a state of melancholy, but it is reassuring to know that it can be cured.