Creativity and madness: some psychological considerations on Čechov’s The Black Monk and Ward no. 6 and Ludwig II of Bavaria

The aim of this research is to identify the relationship between the concept of creativity and psychopathology. The characters depicted in the short stories by the Russian writer Anton Čechov, Ward no. 6 and The Black Monk, and the historical figure of King Ludwig II of Bavaria will be given particular consideration. This paper aims to show how in Čechov’s characters Efymič, Dmitrič and Kovrin, the concept of madness plays a negative function, as the protagonists of the abovenamed tales are unable to be creative. Their psychic discomfort leads to pathology by means of hallucinosis and events that, although they induce and promote a function of mental equilibrium in the individual, they do not lead to creativity. The latter constitutes a peculiar, fundamental and present aspect of Ludwig in the poetic, literary and artistic spheres, which specifically led to the realisation of his castles in Bavaria, products of his particular creativity and today admired by visitors from all over the world.