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Hamlet as an existential play
Mortality in hamlet
Hamlet deals with suicide
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Recommended: Hamlet as an existential play
Suicide is an important theme in Hamlet and is brought up in many situations where Hamlet is contemplating suicide , but he is having trouble deciding what is “To be, or not to be” In a moral perspective, Hamlet finds that suicide is morally wrong. He isn't sure if he would be able to actually end his life one day, but what he goes through seems like a good enough reason to end it.Hamlet is afraid to kill himself because he doesnt know what is to come after he is gone. He knows that suicide is the wrong thing to do, but he feels that he has a reason to kill himself. He questions in his mind why should a human end his troubles and hardships on earth to risk eternity of peace above afterlife? Hamlet decides not to “sleep because he fears that
is he ends his own life, he may also end eternal peace and happiness after death. People who have not repented , or tried to do right by god before their death will be sent to hell or purgatory.This is how the play treats suicide morally, everyone has a different insight of suicide based on their feelings and their role in society. In some ways it is morally wrong and for Hamlet it is a way to get away from this cruel world.
To continue on the subject of suicide, I will bring in some information from my last source, “Shakespeare’s Hamlet 1.2.35-38,” by Kathryn Walls. (Gather information from source and relate to the book).
Suicidal tendencies play a huge role in Hamlet by forming character relationships, adding suspense to the plot and storyline. “Ah, I wish my dirty flesh could melt away into a vapor, or that God had not made a law against suicide. Oh God, God! How tired, stale, and pointless life is to me” (Hamlet 1.2.130-134). This quote by Hamlet Junior in act 1 really embodies the
Each and every single one of our lives should be thought of as a temple that will take control and live out a great life, without having negative thoughts towards living life. We are blessed to have the chance to live a life to the fullest, but there are sadly people out there who end up having different ideas. Suicide is an act of killing ones self and I find most people to be doing this horrible act because they either have serious depression or have some irrational thought that leads them to suicide.
Everybody goes through tough times at least several times in their lives. Often times, with these hard times, tough decisions sometimes have to be made. Unfortunately, when some people encounter these very tough decisions, some people simply cannot make a decision and decided to end their lives. Sometimes, facing an issue head on is too difficult for some people to do, which may cause people to either ignore the issue or commit suicide. This is true for Hamlet, who is faced with a difficult decision in the play Hamlet. In act 3, scene 1, Hamlet is faced with the issue of whether or not if he should act in avenging his late father, King Hamlet,
Hamlet is full of death. The whole plot revolves around the death of King Hamlet, and death is what drives the play forward. Hamlet is surrounded by death and struggles with dealing with it. Before the tragic ending Hamlet loses his father to murder and his love to crazed suicide, along with murdering Polonius himself. Shakespeare uses Hamlet’s questioning of his own mortality and fear of death to connect with the human problem: that if we all die what is the point of living?
Hamlet once said, “for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”(2.2.253). The way a person thinks determines their being. Yes, once again just as many critics, I want to dissect the sanity of Hamlet. We will never know the truth behind his actions but along with the ideas of several other critics we can find answers to confirm his sanity. While exploring Davis’s thoughts on the sanity of Hamlet she quickly drew my attention with making the point, “His own testimony could not be regarded as conclusive-for, if he were truly mad, we could hardly accept his word for it; while if he seemed mad merely, we could hardly believe a present protestation that the appearance was all a sham”(Davis). Hamlet was not insane. He may have had conscious and unconscious emotional breaks throughout the play due to his tragic life events. On the contrary too call him mad or say that his actions stem from insanity seems like a scapegoat for not only his family but also the audience.
Hamlet enters, desperate enough by this time to be thinking of suicide. It seems to him that it would be such a sure way of escape from torment, just to cease existing, and he gives the famous speech on suicide that has never been worn thin by repetition. “To be, or not to be . . .” It would be easy to stop living.
In this soliloquy Hamlet once again talks about suicide. He says he would like to get rid of his endless troubles by killing himself, because in death he can sleep and have no worries.
The way we see ourselves is often reflected in the way we act. Hamlet views himself as different to those young nobles around him such as Fortinbras and Laertes. This reality leads us to believe that over time he has become even more motivated to revenge his father's death, and find out who his true friends are. How can you be honest in a world full of deceit and hate? His seven soliloquies tell us that while the days go by he grows more cunning as he falls deeper into his madness. This fact might have lead Hamlet to believe that suicide is what he really wants for his life's course.
Suicide has always been a “taboo” topic in society; the thought of just abruptly ending one’s life leaves a wide open space for moral interpretations. This moral discussion is not new though, it’s been around ever since there have been people walking this earth. Discussions on whether it can ever be justified, or in religious connotations what happens to the person’s soul, are they automatically damned to hell? These discussions existed in Shakespeare’s time, making the fact that Hamlet has such a huge theme of suicide running through its text an almost nerve-shaking moral dilemma. Can suicide ever be portrayed in a good light without being glorified, or must it forever lurk in the moral shadows?
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.
In Hamlet suicide is an issue of controversy and question. Hamlet is a confused man from everything that he has experienced in such a short period of time. And even though Hamlet contemplates suicide he is not the one who suffers from it. Ophelia is actually is the victim of the actual act of suicide. His morality, religion, and philosophical views on suicide keep him from committing the dreaded act.
In Hamlet's own speeches lie the indications for the methods we should use for its interpretation. & nbsp; Hamlet's reason for suicide is the death of his father, the late King Hamlet - or at least this is what he tells the world. He claims his father's death as the reason in his first soliloquy (1.2.133-164), but we are led towards other reasons by the evidence he gives. In the famous "to be or not to be" soliloquy, he says: "For who would bear. the pangs of despised love. when he himself might his quietus make/with a bare bodkin?"
The play Hamlet, also treats the idea of suicide aesthetically. However, the notion of killing himself is pleasing to his own mind. His mind is in a state in which he really thinks that it is okay to consider suicide sometimes. He wishes that he would be able to make the ultimate sacrifice in his own death. Hamlet knows in his heart though, that he must live. He has a lot of wrong in his life, but he also has a life that he must live because God gave him his
After the death of his father, Hamlet becomes obsessed with death and the afterlife. He sees his father ghost and the ghost tries to tempt Hamlet in committing a great sin. Hamlet contemplates suicide, from the depression after his father’s death. Hamlet felt loss and isolation from his life and family. Hamlet’s “To Be Or Not To Be” soliloquy, speaks on Hamlet’s thoughts to commit suicide. Hamlet states, “too solid flesh would melt, thaw and resolve itself into a dew!” Hamlet states that no one would choose to live a life full of pain and unhappiness, but he chooses to not commit suicide because of God’s consequences. The mortal sin would prevent the person from entering heaven. Taking the soliloquy from a Christian perspective, it informs Hamlet that it is wrong to take his life and risk eternal peace in