Mortality in "Hamlet"

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Recommended: Death as a theme in Hamlet

“So shall you hear of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts, of accidental judgements, casual slaughters, of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause”, (Hamlet, Act V, Scene 2, Lines 381-384). Horatio, best friend of Prince Hamlet, says this in the final lines of the play. He says this after Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, Hamlet, Claudius, King of Denmark, and Laertes, son of Polonius all die in the battle between Hamlet and Laertes. Hamlet, King of Denmark, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, former friends of Hamlet, Polonius, councillor to the King, and Ophelia, daughter of Polonius are also dead. Death is a very important theme in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

The first, and most relevant, death is the death of Hamlets father, King Hamlet, King of Denmark. Although this death is delivered off-screen, it delivers a vicious set of chain of events that molds the plot of Hamlet. King Hamlet died just before the play starts and Claudius, King Hamlet’s brother, took over as the new king.

In the first act of the play, King Hamlets ghost emerges in front of some sentinels and Hamlets frien...

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