Critique of a Beautiful Mind (Essay Sample)

Topic: A Beautiful Mind
Name:
Course:
Instructor’s Name:
Date:
A Beautiful Mind
During Nash's, there are three transition stages that his mind undergoes. First, he is a genius then falls into madness, and the last is the reawakening. He gradually recovers from his illness which many people believe it has no cure especially in his case since he withdraws from medication. People even went ahead to think that he was misdiagnosed with the disease after he gets well. Though his recovery is slow and steady, he finally recovers and to add more becomes the winner of the Nobel Prize (Horward, 2001). This is an indication that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Passing of time is well indicated since he heals gradually and this means in life one has to undergo a lot in order to emerge victorious. In the movie, Nash is very bright especially in the field of Economics and that is why the movie is titled ‘a beautiful mind’ (Horward, 2001). Though bright he is faced by a number of problems, we learn from the movie that he had a son from wedlock. He is characterized with having many lovers. Even if he is depicted as being antisocial, when it comes to ladies he has gotten a word with them. At the end of it all he marries Alicia whom he settles with and they are blessed with a kid. Alicia also plays a major role in helping her husband to overcome his illness and endures all the harm he causes to her and their kid too (Goldstein, 2005).
Insulin shock therapy is also referred to as insulin coma therapy. As the word suggests it is the injection of a large quantity of insulin into the psychosis patient leading them to go into a comma for a couple of weeks. It was commonly used in the years 1940’s and 1950’s before neuroleptic drugs started being used in 1960’s. This therapy was discovered by an Australian American psychiatrist in 1927. He used this therapy to treat those addicted into drugs and also the psychopaths. This type of treatment is not appropriate at all it was only acceptable when other treatments failed. To start with, it was very painful since the patient was repeatedly injected with large amounts of insulin (Goldstein, 2005). The treatment was also very dangerous since it was administered without anesthesia. There are also various symptoms that patient experiences such as decrease in blood sugar, perspiration, lots of saliva in the mouth, feeling dizzy and sometimes restlessness. Sometimes seizures do take place before or during the coma leaving the patient tossing, rolling, and moaning in pain (Horward, 2001).
Boxes, frames and some strong horizontal and vertical lines appear there is need to conceal something. They are associated the main character Nash. They might indicate a number of things. Among them is that they might indicate that there is something that one of the characters is not supposed to know and hence needs to be concealed.
Nash underwent this treatment five times a week up to a total of 50 treatments. Nash could have suffered from fractures, severe memory loss and also seizures resulting from this treatment. Insulin is a hormone associated with transfer of sugars from the blood to its storage organ which is the liver thus when blood sugar levels go down the patient becomes unconscious. These were among the many possible problems Nash could have suffered from.
It is as a result of her caring and selfless wife, support from the mathematics community that Nash emerges a winner of the Nobel Prize. After winning the Nobel peace prize, people now realized what he had really done in career and what a great man he really was. He went ahead and brought together mathematicians who felt they needed to learn something from him and also contribute in the world of mathematics (Horward, 2001). The treatment he was receiving from the mathematic community could not have come at a better time. This is so because it was at this particular time that he suffering from different ailments. His wife also played a huge role since the beginning.
In the film, there are a number of occasions were mirrors and glasses have been used. In many films, people who are seen as genius are shown to prefer writing on mirrors rather than on paper. It is however not understandable why this phenomenon is common. Many see it as a story line created by movie directors that aims at differentiating between genius and other people. In this film, Nash is considered a genius as he is excellent in mathematics and also reasons a lot before taking any action. In the movie, we find some cases where the glass is broken. One of the instances is when Nash bangs his head against a window and in the process, cracks the glass. He bloodies his forehead in the process. This action is prompted by frustrations that he undergoes. In yet another seen, a woman throws a glass to a mirror and ends up breaking both.
Paranoid schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by the inability to differentiate between real and unreal, being unable to think logically, hallucinating, problems in paying attention, a feeling of being surrounded by fear of persecution, and, often someone experiences social withdrawal. Nash is a graduate student at the Princeton University, and one thing to observe is his antisocial behavior. His friends are only his roommate, Charles, Alicia a student who finally becomes his wife, Parcher, Charles niece, Marcee whom he admired, and the list comes to an end. It is so abnormal having few friends at the university level, but his health condition induces all this.
Another scenario is when Nash secretly discontinues the medication for the treatment of his psychiatric illness. His inability to think logically makes him conclude that being under medication makes him lack the possession of the same thinking abilities and therefore, Nash and his wife agree to try and work things out without the medication. Though he secretly stops taking the medicine, his wife comes to think of it when he tells Nash to bath their son where Nash lets his infant son drown since he is convinced that his delusional friend Charles is watching the infant while he thinks he is somewhere else, and he almost beats up his wife having imagined a voice telling him that she is in the process of getting hold of him. Alicia gets burdened since she has a kid and also a husband to care of.
Hallucinations take the better part of Nash. This is clearly shown when he tells his wife Alicia that she never changes since their first encounter. He goes on to say that she has remained young as she was a little girl she resembled indeed. Nash says all this to refer to Mercee, Charles niece whom he admired since they had met. Dr. Rosen also explains to Alicia that after his examination on Nash's health, Charles, Marcee, and, Parcher only exist in his imaginations. These are all incidences of hallucinations portrayed in the movie to show how schizophrenia leads to hallucination.
In Nash’s biography, it is seen that Nash could not remember hallucinating, but he says that he always heard voices that mocked him and kept on arguing with him and times he got to conclude they were the voices of aliens or angels. He even went ahead to believe that those aliens were sending him...