Emergence of the Semiotic in the Symbolic Order: A Kristevan Reading of the Discourse of Madness in Three Major Shakespearean Tragedies

Madness and its manifestations have long been one of the themes treated and diversely depicted in literary works. Shakespeare is among the many authors who have represented this phenomenon in a number of his tragedies through the creation and introduction of a few complicated outstanding characters. His treatment of this issue, according to many critics, is innovative and far from conventional and traditional notions; thus this phenomenon and those who are affected by it can be viewed and analyzed in the light of contemporary theories. Shakespeare particularly creates a peculiar language for the insane personages, which reflects their state of mind and becomes their common feature. In this article, the discourse of four such characters in three major Shakespearean tragedies – Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth – will be discussed in the light of Julia Kristeva’s linguistic theories regarding the semiotic and symbolic dispositions with the assumption that the discourse of madness in these plays is an outcome of the emergence of semiotic features in the symbolic disposition.