Suicide in the tragedies of W. Shakespeare

Suicides committed by characters are found in many literary works, their description is multifaceted and of research interest. The aim of the work is to identify cases of suicide (including post-homicidal suicides) in the tragedies of W. Shakespeare and to conduct their comparative analysis with the data of scientific publications. Materials and methods. Eight tragedies of the world-famous playwrighter with 14 suicide episodes published in Russian are analyzed. Results. Suicide was committed by eight men and six women. Most often (50%), piercing and cutting objects were used as tools, followed by deliberate death from a snake bite (two cases), swallowing hot coals, poisoning, drowning; in two cases, it was known from the content of the tragedy that the characters had committed suicide, but the method of death was not described. In most cases, the motive for suicides was the avoidance of "humiliation and shame" (the military after the defeat in battles, the loss of their special high position), self-punishment for the crimes committed (murders of the wife and sister during post-homicidal suicides). For two characters, the suicide was caused by the death of a loved one (close) person (acute crisis reaction), or misanthropy (and self-hatred) with obvious personal deviations. Probable psychotic disorder occurred in one case. Conclusion. Based on the dramatic works of W. Shakespeare, one can study many basic aspects of suicidology and addictology. The reality of their description by one of the best writers (poet) of the world served in a number of cases as the basis for creating eponyms (“Othello syndrome”, “Ophelia syndrome”, “Romeo and Juliet effect”, “Lady Macbeth effect”) used in modern medicine and psychology.