What Is Hamlet's Contemplation Of Life And Death

In Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, a common theme is life and death. Death is a major aspect of this play because it revolves around death. Prince Hamlet is constantly weighing life, death, and the afterlife throughout his development in the play. Hamlet’s obsession with all of these things come from his uncertainty about his morality and also because of the actions of the people around him. Hamlet is constantly faced with death whether its his father who he needs to avenge or his uncle that he needs to kill. In Hamlet’s famous soliloquy he exemplifies his contemplation of life, death, and the afterlife and the realities of each.

Hamlet starts his soliloquy off with the famous phrase “To be, or Not to be?”(3.1.57) in other words, Hamlet is asking himself if he is better off dead or alive. This may be perceived as Hamlet contemplating suicide, but I do not agree with that. This is because Hamlet believes that if he commits suicide, he will be doomed in eternal hell because it is a major sin in the Christian religion. Simply I think Hamlet is weighing all of his options

Every decision Hamlet makes over the course of the play he considers how it will effect him in the afterlife. In Hamlets soliloquy he says, “When we have shuffled off this mortal coil/ Must give us pause. There’s the respect/ That makes calamity of so long life.” (3.1.68-70) What Hamlet is saying here is that we need to worry about our sins and what we do in our life because those same sufferings are the ones we will dwell upon for our entire lives. Hamlet ultimately strays away from this consideration of the afterlife because he finds it to be right to avenge his fathers death through his development in the play. Hamlet obviously had extreme doubt in whether or not to kill his uncle because he contemplated his decision for months before he came to a conclusion to avenge his fathers death by granting his dying wish which was to kill