Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
What is the imagery of hamlet
How does the play hamlet treat the idea of suicide
How does the play hamlet treat the idea of suicide
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: What is the imagery of hamlet
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. Going into the story of Hamlet, suicide is something that has been thought about coming from the mind of Hamlet, but we also see it happen with Ophelia. Hamlet was a man who had some serious problems going on within the family, most importantly
“O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon ’gainst self-slaughter! O God, God”(I, 2, 129-132). Hamlet is whining about that he wished his flesh would be melted away, but he is also then saying that God made suicide a sin. I find this quote to be very interesting because it somewhat brings in a relationship between Hamlet and God. Hamlet does not really support what God has made a sin, but that does not mean Hamlet disobeys God. Reading Hamlet on a basic level will give us what we need to know, but looking further in, it is quite surprising to find religious thoughts and how Shakespeare incorporated it in. Hamlet could easily have ignored God, but because suicide is a sin, he would rather listen and try to reach Heaven one
It is used for the act of devotion or serious depression and in Hamlet, I would say that it is because he is depressed, but also angry. Suicide can possibly have a symbolic meaning behind it, but then sometimes it can also be controversial in the real world. At least in Hamlet, I would say that suicide was symbolic for both Hamlet and Ophelia, but in different ways. Ophelia did it to symbolize her rage and somewhat insecurities toward her family and the murder of King Hamlet. Hamlet on the other hand, him not committing suicide symbolizes his courage to stand up for what
It was not considered suicide because she was not the one who caused her grief. Suicide was only considered suicide back then if you killed yourself for something you had done, for example, if you had murdered someone. As you can see, Ophelia is a great example of a tragic hero. Her loyalty to three men caused her final destruction, death. Also, her death caused the final destruction of the death of her brother and Hamlet as well.
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
Hamlet based a lot of his actions on his religious moral standards. Although Hamlet had high morals, he still had many impulses that were against his moral standards that he wanted to carry out; such as the murder of his father and his thoughts on suicide. "His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God, God, how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!" (I, ii, 36-138) Hamlet is saying that if it wasn't against his religion to commit suicide, he would do it. In his fourth soliloquy, Hamlet says, "Thus, conscience does make coward of us all." (III, i, 91) Hamlet blames his inability to act out his impulses on these moral standards that have been ingrained into his conscience. He finds the restrictions in his world unbearable because it is confined within religious and social class barriers.
From the death of his father, the late King Hamlet, he is often faced with thoughts of suicide, sin, and life after death. Through his first soliloquy, Hamlet contemplates suicide because he cannot deal with the pain from his father’s death and the new marriage of his mother, Queen Gertrude and his uncle Claudius. Following Christian values, he goes on to say that it would be sin to do so, “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew! Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!” (Act I, Scene II, line 129-132). He continues to keep this “Christian value” till the end of the play, but further contemplates his ow...
With Hamlet having to emotionally deal with his fathers’ death and the stigma of incest in his family, could be his undoing. Hamlet shares how dispirited he genuinely is. Hamlet expounds his heart-ache, but it is virtually like he does not want to kill himself. Towards the cessation of the passage Hamlet seems homogeneous to he has verbalized himself out of committing suicide. Ophelia and the love he has for her seems to be the only thing that is keeping Hamlet from killing himself.
to commit suicide, however, since God condemns it, he is compelled to refrain from doing so because of his faith (1.2.129-132). Hamlet’s suicidal thoughts, pertaining to the materialism of
After a death, we find ways to overcome 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.
In these lines Hamlet says that he would like to commit suicide, but cannot because of the way suicide is looked upon in god's eyes. More of Hamlet's depression can be seen in Act III scene I lines 56-61 when Hamlet says:
I think Ophelia committed suicide because she had hard time throughout the play. She encountered a lot of rejections and tragedies in her life. Hamlet treated her terribly, telling her he does not love her anymore and she was always controlled by Hamlet, her brother and father. Being trapped in the amount of control and dominance the men she loved gave her, she must have had a hard time living. In addition, even though her father Polonius was controlling, Ophelia was willing to obey his directions because she loved her father and he was all she had left. In the end, she is likely to have committed suicide because of grief from the loss of her father.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet shows many causes of teen suicide, all the way from the loss of a parent or family member to depression caused by the rejection of another. All of these aspects seem to have directly impacted one of the leading ladies in the tale Hamlet’s love interest, Ophelia. Through her father’s murder and Hamlet’s rejection of her love, Ophelia spiraled into a whirlwind of confusion and misguidance, in return throwing her into a state of madness. Through episodes of mindless singing and explaining the meaning behind violets and pansies, Ophelia’s mind deteriorates faster and faster until there’s nothing left. Then, she essentially commits suicide.
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.
Keys to Interpretation of Hamlet & nbsp; William Shakespeare's Hamlet is, at heart, a play about suicide. Though it is surrounded by a fairly standard revenge plot, the play's core is an intense psychodrama about a prince gone mad from the pressures of his station and his unrequited love for Ophelia. He longs for the ultimate release of killing himself - but why? In this respect, Hamlet is equivocal - he gives several different motives depending on the situation. But we learn to trust his soliloquies - his thoughts - more than his actions.
In doing this, Hamlet, and by default Shakespeare, projects an aura of duty and honor around the situation – almost as a subtle nod to the ritualistic nature of suicide. Ritualism shows up again with the use of the words “consummation” and “devoutly”, in 3.1.65-66, which are extremely symbolic, concurrent with their use within the Christian faith (more specifically Catholocism, of which Hamlet would have been a follower). It is here that we see Hamlet declare suicide “’tis a consummation, devoutly to be wish’d. To die.”
Throughout the play, the character of Hamlet has many soliloquies where he contemplates suicide, but he is never able to fully commit to commiting suicide. Throughout these constant thoughts, his inability to act on actually committing suicide come from reasons such as: it’s a sin in Christianity, and he’s scared of the unknown. An example of one of these reasons comes from the quotation: “His canon ‘gainst {self-slaughter!} Oh God, God, / How {weary,} stale, flat, and unprofitable / Seem to me all the uses of this world” (1.2.136-138). In this quotation, Hamlet is in one of his soliloquies, and he is stating that his life has gone stale and pointless.