After a death, we find ways of overcoming grief in this painful world. Some people binge eat their way out while others find the easy way out, which is suicide.In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare portrays mortality in the image of death and suicide.Shakespeare develops hamlet as a man who is sensitive and uncontrolled by his actions. Hamlet faces challenges that mess with his subconscious making him feel vulnerable to making decisions that will affect his life.We can say that Hamlet was very indecisive of living or not. He showed many signs of suicidal thoughts. Many can argue and say that Hamlet was depressed. Coming back home from school to attend his father's funeral in Denmark made him discover many things, such as, his mother Gertrude remarried to Hamlet's uncle Claudius who is the dead king's brother. To Hamlet he finds it loathsome for his
In the last soliloquy he was understanding how its a crime and a sin to commit suicide but in act 3 scene 1 his mindset changes dramatically.He states “ To be or not to be—that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer”(3.1.64-65). Hamlet is now asking himself if he should die, should he commit suicide. Would it be worth living? But due to his religion, he can't.”To die — to sleep. To sleep—perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub!; / for in that sleep of death what dreams may come “(3.1.72-72).Shakespeare is very good at using metaphors in which he uses in this scene. He compares sleep to death and sleeps to dreams. The dreams that he fears are those who connect to death. A never-ending sleep that gets rid of all our problems. Hamlet then goes on and proves that there's suffering after death. But even though he doesn't know what happens after death, he learns that he has the ability to make his own decision and that his decisions deprive on
At one point in act three, scene one, Hamlet even considers suicide as an alternative to avenging father, saying that the "sleep of death," with its end to the "heartaches and the thousand natural shocks/ That flesh is heir to...
From past experiences in ones life, whether it be the death of a long aged gold fish to a deceased elder, one knows the pain and suffering that goes on afterwards. For one to finally move on and continue life without a tear in their eyes may take a while, yet having that immense step means to put the emotions aside and live life. Hamlet's father was murdered, and he soon sees his mother move on so quickly and marries his uncle, to continue being the queen. Hamlet's love for his father does not fade away within a two month span like his mother; he refuses to accept the fact that his father was killed, instead of a natural death. Because of this, Hamlet does not know what to do with his life. He mentions "O, that this too too sallied flesh would melt,/ Or that the Everlasting had not fixed/ His canon `against self-slaughter" (129-132). Immediately does Hamlet questions the existence of his own life, as he feels the need to melt and disappear, ultimately referring to suicide. The problem we face...
When Hamlet Senior dies Hamlet seems lost. Depression commonly follows a loved one’s death. He finds no true meaning in life. He wonders if we are only here to eat and sleep.
To begin with, Hamlet starts off his speech asking, “Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune/ Or to take arms against a sea of troubles/ And by opposing end them” (Shakespeare 3.1.57-60). He wonders if he would be more noble if he took his own life and end his sorrows than if he continued to endure him. This question shows the pain and grief that Hamlet has experienced since the death of his father. According to Ophelia, later in Act 3 Scene 1, she reveals that Hamlet was once the obvious successor to the throne since he was charismatic and admired by the people. Clearly, in this part of the play, he is suicidal, and he is uncertain about many of the big decisions in his life. This extreme change in Hamlet’s behaviors makes the audience worry about Hamlet’s mental health. Is his feigned madness transforming into true insanity? However, his comparison to death and sleep suggests that Hamlet is in a state of reflection and learning. Hamlet’s analogy between death and sleep is the musings of an ordinary man who wonders what happens to a soul once its body dies. Just as no one knows what dreams they will experience when they lay in bed, no knows what they will experience when their body is finally laid in a grave.
Sadness is the first emotion that is usually related to death. In the play, Hamlet does not try to disguise his sorrow after his father’s murder. This sadness is intermingled with disgust for the others around him who moved on with their grief and criticized him for continuing to mourn. After being criticized by Gertrude and Claudius, Hamlet chooses to talk to open space to reveal his feelings (1.2.129-158). Hamlet clearly shows the sadness in his heart, as well as the idea of bitterness. He continually attacks his mother’s quick grieving: “O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason / would have mourned longer” (1.2.150-151). This sadness continues in his fake madness, seeping into conversations that show his need for escape. In a confrontation with Polonius, Hamlet ends the con...
In act 3, Hamlet questions the unbearable pain of life and views death through the metaphor of sleep. "To be or not to be: that is the question: / whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles / and, by opposing end them. To die, to sleep / no more" (3.1.64-68), details which bring up new thoughts about what happens in the after life. Thus, Hamlet contemplates suicide, but his lacking knowledge about what awaits him in the afterworld causes him to question what death will bring. For example he states, "The undiscovered country, from whose bourn / no traveler returns, puzzles the will / and makes us rather bear those ills we have / than fly to others that we know not of" (3.1.87-90), again revealing his growing concern with "Truth" and his need for certainty. Once again, death appears in act 4 with the suicide of Ophelia, the demand for Hamlet's execution and the gravedigger scene. All of these situations tie back with how death is all around Hamlet and feeds his obsession with it. Finally in act 5, Hamlet meets his own death, as his obsession to know leads to the death of himself.
Hamlet's View on Death in Hamlet by William Shakespeare Hamlet is scared because he does not know what happens after you die. He is not afraid to die, but he will not kill himself because he is afraid that he will go to hell. In Act 3, scene 3, Hamlet shows his belief in the Bible by not killing his father while he is in prayer. He says, HAMLET “A villain kills my father; and for that. I, his sole son, send this same villain.
Major life changes bring about the rise of Hamlet's insanity. The play begins with Hamlet returning home to Denmark to discover that his father had died. Aside from his father's death, Hamlet also had to accept that his mother was now married to his father's brother, Claudius. In Hamlet's first soliloquy preceding his father's death, he tells the audience “O that this too, too solid flesh would melt. Or that the Everlasting had not fixed, His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!”(Act 1. Scene 2. lines 130-133) This gives us a brief preview of Hamlet's mental state in the beginning of the play. Hamlet is extremely depressed and admits that but says it would be a sin to kill himself. Hamlet goes on to describe the world as "weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable" and compares it to an "unweeded garden” (Act 1. Scene 2. lines 133-135). Hamlet shows red flags for depression; however, he seems to be reacting as a normal person would to the death of a loved one, losing a sense of understanding and love fo...
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a tragic play about murder, betrayal, revenge, madness, and moral corruption. It touches upon philosophical ideas such as existentialism and relativism. Prince Hamlet frequently questions the meaning of life and the degrading of morals as he agonizes over his father’s murder, his mother’s incestuous infidelity, and what he should or shouldn’t do about it. At first, he is just depressed; still mourning the loss of his father as his mother marries his uncle. After he learns about the treachery of his uncle and the adultery of his mother, his already negative countenance declines further. He struggles with the task of killing Claudius, feeling burdened about having been asked to find a solution to a situation that was forced upon him.Death is something he struggles with as an abstract idea and as relative to himself. He is able to reconcile with the idea of death and reality eventually.
William Shakespeare intended for Hamlet to be a tragic play of a hero: Hamlet. He does exactly that by allowing Hamlet to be exposed to suffering and being able to endure it without committing suicide. Although if one was to analyze the content of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be…” soliloquy once would realize that Hamlet is not really all that suicidal. However, there are moments throughout the play that arise the suspicion of Hamlet to no longer be able to endure the suffering and pain in his life. Hamlet’s judgment can be distorted when he does not act using reason but rather emotional impulse. His ability to accept and embrace suffering and pain, allows him to realize how valuable his life truly is.
Tragic death plays a really big role in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Hamlet often considers death in many different perspectives, and definitely obsesses with the idea more so after his fathers’ death. Hamlet’s soliloquy is one of the most famous in literature, “To be or not to be, that is the question…” Hamlet’s dilemma is the pain of life that he must endure or the uncertainty of death. From the beginning of the play to the very last scene, the fascination between life and death plays a role throughout. Hamlet is troubled through the play after realizing that his uncle was the one who murdered his father and is now married to his mother. He wants to avenge Hamlet Sr. death and kill Claudius but feels that killing himself would be an easier resolution. After the death of his murdered father and appearance at his funeral, Hamlet will not leave anywhere without making the statement of his all black attire on the inside and out. The turn of events throughout the play only help the reader understand the debt of each character and their specific role to Hamlet and to the story in regards to life and death.
In his tragedy Hamlet, William Shakespeare explores and analyzes the concept of mortality and the inevitability of death through the development of Hamlet’s understanding and ideology regarding the purpose for living. Through Hamlet’s obsessive fascination in understanding the purpose for living and whether death is the answer, Shakespeare analyzes and interprets the meaning of different elements of mortality and death: The pain death causes to others, the fading of evidence of existence through death, and the reason for living. While due to the inevitable and unsolvable mystery of the uncertainty of death, as no being will ever empirically experience death and be able to tell the tale, Shakespeare offers an answer to the reason for living through an analysis of Hamlet’s development in understanding death.
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, suicide is treated differently on the aspects of religion, morals, and philosophical views. Suicide is the act of deliberately killing yourself in contrary to your own best interests. In today’s society suicide is highly looked down upon. But Shakespeare used suicide and violence in almost all of his most popular plays. Many of his tragedies used the element of suicide, some accomplished, others merely contemplated.
Hamlet’s anger and grief- primarily stemming from his mother’s marriage to Claudius- brings him to thoughts of suicide, which only subside as a result of it being a mortal and religious sin. The fact that he wants to take his own life demonstrates a weakness in his character; a sense of cowarness, his decision not to kill himself because of religious beliefs shows that this weakness is balanced with some sense of morality. Such an obvious paradox is only one example of the inner conflict and turmoil that will eventually lead to Hamlet’s downfall.
Hamlet is one of the most often-performed and studied plays in the English language. The story might have been merely a melodramatic play about murder and revenge, butWilliam Shakespeare imbued his drama with a sensitivity and reflectivity that still fascinates audiences four hundred years after it was first performed. Hamlet is no ordinary young man, raging at the death of his father and the hasty marriage of his mother and his uncle. Hamlet is cursed with an introspective nature; he cannot decide whether to turn his anger outward or in on himself. The audience sees a young man who would be happiest back at his university, contemplating remote philosophical matters of life and death. Instead, Hamlet is forced to engage death on a visceral level, as an unwelcome and unfathomable figure in his life. He cannot ignore thoughts of death, nor can he grieve and get on with his life, as most people do. He is a melancholy man, and he can see only darkness in his future—if, indeed, he is to have a future at all. Throughout the play, and particularly in his two most famous soliloquies, Hamlet struggles with the competing compulsions to avenge his father’s death or to embrace his own. Hamlet is a man caught in a moral dilemma, and his inability to reach a resolution condemns himself and nearly everyone close to him.