So Much Death in Hamlet

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There are only two scenes in Hamlet act 5 by William Shakespeare. Those two scenes are arguably the most famous in Shakespearean literature. It is filled with soliloquies, heartbreak, and death. Typical Shakespeare, right? During the first four acts of Hamlet, Hamlet has a crazy, wild, heartbroken attitude. But during the fifth act, he is calm and collected and knows exactly what he has to do to enact his revenge on his uncle. He has grown up and knows that everything is already planned out for him. Hamlet is changed in act 5 and he is ready for action. There are many factors that make act 5 contribute greatly to the success of Hamlet by William Shakespeare and they are death, love, and betrayal.
In the beginning of act one scene one in Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet finds out about the deaths of Yorick and Ophelia. Throughout the whole play, Hamlet has been feigning craziness around the king, queen, and his lover, Ophelia, in order to get more information about how his father’s death happened. By doing this, everyone thinks it’s because of Ophelia rejecting Hamlet’s love because her father told her to. Eventually, by the death of her father and Hamlet ignoring her, Ophelia starts to lose her mind. She suspiciously commits suicide by drowning and a funeral is to be held. Hamlet, recently back from England, suddenly realizes that his lover has died and it destroys him. Before all of that, Hamlet had just gone through a soliloquy involving Yorick, the jester of his father when Hamlet was little. The graveyard makes Hamlet more agreeable with death and that no one can escape it and he says in act 5:1 lines 179-181, “Now get you to my lady’s chamber and tell her, let her paint an inch think, to this favor she must come.” He i...

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...ct 5:2 lines 330, “The King – The King’s to blame.” Hamlet becomes enraged and stabs the king with the poisoned sword and forces the king to drink the poisoned drink that his mother had died from not to long before. Hamlet enacts his revenge, but with a price: his death.
Death, love, and the betrayal that finishes everyone off in act 5 of Hamlet by William Shakespeare are the factors that make it such a great act. Shakespeare captures the feeling of humor, fear, and love all in two scenes and they are the most memorable by people today. Hamlet’s attitude about death has changed. At the beginning, he was focused fully on himself, now his mental state seems to have changed since his father has died. He wants Laertes’ forgiveness because he is able to think sympathetically about others. The death of Ophelia was a wakeup call because now he knows that it is okay to die.

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