Comparing the Reactions to Death in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Samuel Johnson

546 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Theme of death in literature

The death of a loved one can be tragic. It often alters how people think, feel, and act. Some people withdraw from life, some move closer to God, and some appear to lose their minds. Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Samuel Johnson both lost someone very close to them, but found very different ways to deal with their losses. “Hamlet” and “Johnson” have only a few things in common. Both were written long ago and discuss death of family members. Johnson lost his wife, while Hamlet lost his father. Although the person they lost and how they died is different, the events changed both men’s lives. Both of these men made the choices to act the way that they did which caused their lives to be different. While Hamlet is the character in a play written by William Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson was an actual living person. Shakespeare wrote this tragic play depicting the character of Hamlet whose father was murdered by his uncle and how he dealt with it. Samuel Johnson was a poor scholar who actually wrote “a scholarly edition of Shakespeare’s plays” (Shadow & Light, Tippens, Murray Walke...

Show More
Related

  • Michael Lassell How To Watch Your Brother Die Analysis

    1768 Words  | 4 Pages

    Loss and How We Cope We all deal with death in our lives, and that is why Michael Lassell’s “How to Watch Your Brother Die” resonates with so many readers. It confronts the struggles of dealing with death. Lassell writes the piece like a field guide, an instruction set for dealing with death, but the piece is much more complex than its surface appearance. It touches on ideas of acceptance, regret, and misunderstanding, to name a few. While many of us can identify with this story, I feel like the story I brought into the text has had a much deeper and profound impact.

    Read More

  • Hamlet Literary Analysis - Stages of Grief

    1300 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hamlet throughout the play lives in a world of mourning. This bereavement route he experiences can be related to Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s theory on this process. The death of Hamlet’s spirit can be traced through depression, denial and isolation, bargaining, anger, and acceptance. The natural sorrow and anger of Hamlet’s multiple griefs include all human frailty in their protest and sympathy and touch upon the deepest synapses of grief in our own lives, not only for those who have died, but for those, like ourselves, who are still alive. Hamlet’s experience of grief, and his recovery from it, is one it which we ourselves respond most deeply.

    Read More

  • Death And Grieving By Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

    1953 Words  | 4 Pages

    Death and Grieving Imagine that the person you love most in the world dies. How would you cope with the loss? Death and grieving is an agonizing and inevitable part of life. No one is immune from death’s insidious and frigid grip. Individuals vary in their emotional reactions to loss.

    Read More

  • Grief in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    1120 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Webster’s Desk Dictionary, grief is defined as “keen mental suffering over affection or loss” (397). Various characters in Hamlet choose to deal with grief in different ways, with many of their methods harmful in the end. Ophelia is dealt two setbacks during the course of the play, one being her father’s death and the other being Hamlet’s disrespectful treatment. Her brother Laertes must also deal with Polonius’s death, as well as Ophelia’s. From the beginning of the play, Hamlet grieves over his father’s murder. His grief is what sparks his quest for revengeand his battle to kill Claudius.

    Read More

  • Hamlet and Ophelia

    1396 Words  | 3 Pages

    4. Finally the reactions that the characters have to their fathers' deaths are also similar. When Hamlet learns that his father was murdered and that his stepfather is the killer[,] it is more than he can handle.

    Read More

  • Hamlet: Emotions of Despair, Sadness, Anger, and Inner Peace

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    King and Queen that he has "lost all mirth," in this world so "foul and

    Read More

  • William Shakespeare Hamlet Suicide Quotes

    697 Words  | 2 Pages

    In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Shakespeare utilizes his ability to use words to paint emotion, the story, and characters into the readers mind. Shakespeare creates the memorable character of Hamlet Junior in his poem, Hamlet, through the characteristics of insanity and madness and suicidal tendencies or thoughts of suicide. His capability of doing so enlarges the ability of the reader to understand the story, but also to construct the storyline.

    Read More

  • Closely Examines Shakespeare's Use of Classical Allusions to Violent Death in Hamlet

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the most striking classical references in Hamlet is to the fall of Troy and the death of its king, Priam. Hamlet wishes the player to recite a speech he .".cheifly loved..." and recites the first thirteen lines for him. Within the first five lines of this speech the audience is bombarded with images of darkness, ."..sable...black...night...ominous...dread...black...dismal..." . Hamlet describes .".Hellish Pyrrhus..." raging through Troy looking for the King. Pyrrhus is a symbol of brutal revenge. He has become a by word for gratuitous violence and savage vengeance.

    Read More

  • Kahlil Gibran's On Death And Dying

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    Everyone has or will experience a loss of a loved one sometime in their lives. It is all a part of the cycle of life and death. The ways each person copes with this loss may differ, but according to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s novel On Death and Dying, a person experiences several stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and, finally, acceptance. There is no set time for a person to go through each stage because everyone experiences and copes with grief differently. However, everyone goes through the same general feelings of grief and loss. There are also sections in Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” that connect to the process of grieving: “On Pain,” “On Joy and Sorrow,” and “On Talking.” Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” reflects on Kübler-Ross’s model of the different stages of grief and loss.

    Read More

  • Topic of Death in Hamlet

    1425 Words  | 3 Pages

    Being that death is a universally explored topic, William Shakespeare, a master of English literature, opted to thoroughly investigate this complex notion in his play Hamlet. Shakespeare cleverly and sometimes subtly brings the reader/viewer through a physical and spiritual journey of death via the several controversial characters of Hamlet. The chief element of this expedition is undoubtedly the funerals. Every funeral depicts, and marks, the conclusion of different perceptions of death. Shakespeare uses the funerals of the several controversial characters to gradually transform the simple, spiritual, naïve, and somewhat light view of death into a much more factual, physical, serious, and down to earth outlook.

    Read More

  • Free Hamlet Essays: Hamlet Father and Son

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    The play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Hamlet was a man that looked up to his father throughout his life, during and after his father's death. The younger Hamlet tried to follow in his father's footsteps, but as much as they were alike, they were very much different. The man named Hamlet had a son named Hamlet and after everything was over, that is one of the few things that they had in common. King Hamlet and Hamlet compare in that they are both upset by the Queen’s marriage, they both hate Claudius, they are both brave, and they are both dead by the end of the play. They contrast in that while Hamlet’s father was king, Hamlet will never have the kingship, Hamlet does not leave a legacy and they die differently.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Mortality in Hamlet by William Shakespeare

    2189 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • coping with death

    475 Words  | 1 Pages

    People cope with the loss of a loved one in many ways. For some, the experience may lead to personal growth, even though it is a difficult and trying time. There is no right way of coping with death. The way a person grieves depends on the personality of that person and the relationship with the person who has died. How a person copes with grief is affected by the person's cultural and religious background, coping skills, mental history, support systems, and the person's social and financial status.

    Read More

  • Death: Comparing Hamlet with My Own Personal Experience

    539 Words  | 2 Pages

    As we live our lives, we don't really take the time to stop and take notice of the little things going on around us. We don't question why the sky is blue or why does the sun rises. Those are questions that we can easily search and find the answer to. What challenges the mind the most in my opinion is complete uncertainty. When there isnt a definite answer, you have to paint your own picture on what you think it will be. The spellbinding question of “How can I accept the idea that someday my life will end” will definitely have your mind racing in a million different directions.Hamlet found himself aqquring death when he states in his monolouge that “To die, to sleep.To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come” (Act 3 Scene 1). This is his way of coming to terms that death is certain and ineviatble. I can honestly say that I'm still in the mind-boggling process of accepting the matter myself. When I encountered death first hand, it was at a funeral of a loved one. Mortified and deeply filled with sadness I felt the same way as Ham...

    Read More

  • Moral Issues In Shakespeare's Hamlet By William Shakespeare

    1896 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Hamlet” is a play, compose by William Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers for drama. This play is centered on the young Norwegian prince named Hamlet. The exact age of Hamlet is not noted in the play, but it can be deduced from the clues presented in the play, like Hamlet goes to school away from his home country and Hamlet knowledge of fighting with swords. In the play Hamlet father died, however it is not until Hamlet finds out how his father died that the plot start to gain momentum. Hamlet’s father spirit claims his death, a “foul and most unnatural murder” (Shakespeare, Act I, scene v, line 25). This lead Hamlet to be roused into taking revenge for his father. The killer of Hamlet’s father is revealed

    Read More

More about Comparing the Reactions to Death in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Samuel Johnson

Open Document