The essay examines portrayals of mental disorder in early modern English drama, combining historical background with close literary analysis. It surveys medical and popular attitudes toward insanity, then classifies theatrical mad folk into types—mania, imbecility, melancholy, delusions and hallucinations, and deliberate pretenders—illustrating how tragedians and comedians shaped those figures. Adopting the dramatist's perspective rather than a clinical one, the author assesses accuracy, dramatic function, and artistic technique, and draws conclusions about changing theatrical conventions and wider social views of mental disturbance.