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The tragic figure of hamlet
The tragic figure of hamlet
The tragic figure of hamlet
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Nothing in life is for certain but the fact that everyone will die at one point, is unavoidable and it affects everyone in different ways. Death is constantly being brought up throughout the play, some ways physical and some even metaphorical. In addition the reason why death is so prominent is because it affects each individual character differently. It holds the ability to ruin someone in one foul swoop. As for the constant message that is brought up throughout the play, it talks about how everyone's time to perish comes at some point whether it is sooner or later. furthermore death has a way of destroying everything in its path. Not only does it affect the ones who have perished, but the loved ones and not so loved ones that they have once known. …show more content…
But that I am forbid To tell the secrets of my prison house, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood… (1.5.14-21). The Ghost physically appears to talk to Hamlet and shows him what the afterlife is like. The ghost tells him how he is stuck in an in-between state where he can not move on until his death is avenged. But he cannot show him what the afterlife is like or it will kill Hamlet instantly. Death holds the power to ruin peoples lives and it strongly affects those who were close to them. Also having the ability to influence those affected by it , make sudden and impulsive decisions. Sometimes causing someone to slip into a psychotic episode as a way to cope with the stress and mixed emotions that come with losing a loved one. After Hamlet's father's death he went on a psychotic episode as a way of dealing with the loss of his father. Hamlet is contemplating suicide and believes there is no point to go on: O, that this too too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God,
To begin with, Hamlet starts off his speech asking, “Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune/ Or to take arms against a sea of troubles/ And by opposing end them” (Shakespeare 3.1.57-60). He wonders if he would be more noble if he took his own life and end his sorrows than if he continued to endure him. This question shows the pain and grief that Hamlet has experienced since the death of his father. According to Ophelia, later in Act 3 Scene 1, she reveals that Hamlet was once the obvious successor to the throne since he was charismatic and admired by the people. Clearly, in this part of the play, he is suicidal, and he is uncertain about many of the big decisions in his life. This extreme change in Hamlet’s behaviors makes the audience worry about Hamlet’s mental health. Is his feigned madness transforming into true insanity? However, his comparison to death and sleep suggests that Hamlet is in a state of reflection and learning. Hamlet’s analogy between death and sleep is the musings of an ordinary man who wonders what happens to a soul once its body dies. Just as no one knows what dreams they will experience when they lay in bed, no knows what they will experience when their body is finally laid in a grave.
He is mentally disturbed by the thought of his uncle killing his father to the point where he loses touch with sanity. Hamlet is a tragedy that will never have a straightforward answer as to if he faked being crazy or not. My belief is that Hamlet had in fact lost touch with reality. The slow decline of his mental health throughout lead me to believe he did go crazy, even if he might have been faking it at first. After seeing his father’s ghost, I believe he started acting like he had lost his mind to blame his future actions on the fact that he was crazy. I also believe he truly did lose his mind shortly after when he found out about Claudius murdering his
“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.
Beginning with the Greeks, tragedy has been an essential form of entertainment. Although it has changed slightly over time due to different religious and social values, it is still written and performed to this day. Perhaps the most well known tragedy of all time is Shakespeare's Hamlet. Hamlet is perhaps the epitome of all tragedy. Not only does the tragic hero Hamlet meet his demise, but all the main characters in the play at some point due to some flaw in their character, or some fatal decision, also meet the same fate. It is because of their character flaw and/or their fatal decision at some time during the play that their death can be justified.
In Act 1 Scene 5, the ghost of Hamlet’s father says. GHOST “I am thy father's spirit. Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night. And for the day confined to fast in fires. Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purged away.”
Death threads its way through the entirety of Hamlet, from the opening scene’s confrontation with a dead man’s ghost to the blood bath of the final scene, which occurs as a result of the disruption of the natural order of Denmark. Hamlet is a man with suicidal tendencies which goes against his Christian beliefs as he is focused on the past rather than the future, which causes him to fall into the trap of inaction on his path of revenge. Hamlet’s moral dilemma stems from the ghost’s appearance as “a spirit of health or a goblin damned”, making Hamlet decide whether it brings with...
Shakespeare shows the ideology of death internalizing within Hamlet first with Hamlet’s emotions following the death of Old Hamlet. In the scene in which Hamlet is introduced, Hamlet is portrayed as an embodiment of death, dressed in “suits of a solemn black”(1.2.81) and has “dejected havior of the visage”(1.2.84). Hamlet’s physical representation as death signifies his lack of desire to continue living himself, being detached and discontent with the world around him. Hamlet, in his first soliloquy, opens by stating, “Sullied flesh would melt/Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,/ Or that the Everlasting had not fixed/His canon ‘gainst Self Slaughter!”(1.2.133-135). This is significant, as it shows Hamlet’s full willingness to commit suicide and end Hamlet’s internal pain, if not for suicide being a sin under religion. The reason for Hamlet’s desire for death and his dis...
The basis of one 's mortality and the complications of life and death are talked about from the opening of Hamlet. In the mist of his father 's death, Hamlet is having a hard time not thinking about and considering the meaning of life and how life ends. Many questions emerge as the story progresses. There was so many question that Hamlet contemplated. He was constantly worrying that is he revenged on his fathers’ death then what would happen. He would ask himself questions like, what happens when and how you die? Do kings go to heaven? If I kill, will I go to heaven?
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.
Major life changes bring about the rise of Hamlet's insanity. The play begins with Hamlet returning home to Denmark to discover that his father had died. Aside from his father's death, Hamlet also had to accept that his mother was now married to his father's brother, Claudius. In Hamlet's first soliloquy preceding his father's death, he tells the audience “O that this too, too solid flesh would melt. Or that the Everlasting had not fixed, His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!”(Act 1. Scene 2. lines 130-133) This gives us a brief preview of Hamlet's mental state in the beginning of the play. Hamlet is extremely depressed and admits that but says it would be a sin to kill himself. Hamlet goes on to describe the world as "weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable" and compares it to an "unweeded garden” (Act 1. Scene 2. lines 133-135). Hamlet shows red flags for depression; however, he seems to be reacting as a normal person would to the death of a loved one, losing a sense of understanding and love fo...
In the play Hamlet, Shakespeare uses the recurring motif of death to explore the influence of death on the living. Death is the most influential issue in Hamlet, as it is the reason for all the chaos that happens in the state of Denmark. In the beginning of the play, Hamlet is heavily influenced by the death of his father and ignores his mother’s new, hasty marriage with his Uncle Claudius. He continues to show his sympathy for his father’s death by wearing dark-colored clothes to the wedding celebration.
Even though one of Hamlet’s main traits is viciousness, he appears to ultimately be ruled by fear. His fear bleeds into his thought process, dictating what he does—and does not—do. Frustrated, he contemplates suicide, questioning whether “to be or not to be,” and hopes that “all [his] sins [will be] remembered” (3.1.64-98). Again, Hamlet is paralyzed by fear. In this case, he relinquishes the thought when he considers what may happen to himself after he dies.
Hamlet doesn’t know how to cope with his father's death and then starts to lose his self respect when he finds out his father is murdered by his uncle. This results in Hamlet losing his self of steam and bringing him thoughts of suicide. He knows that if he kills himself he doesn’t know what will happen to him, but he knows what will happen to him if he stays living. Hamlet also loses sense of his moral compass and starts to lash out on everyone. This results in Hamlet losing his self respect and
Death and Eternity In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare portrays death as an escape of human sorrow by using Hamlet’s soliloquy to verbalize his suicidal thoughts and cruel experiences with death, thus demonstrating the evil of the world and how it drives people to self mutilation or even murder. Shakespeare uses dramatic pauses throughout Hamlet’s soliloquy to emphasize his acceptance of death and his belief that death is nothing more than escaping human sorrow. As Hamlet talks to himself he says “...to sleep--no more…” followed by another pause, Shakespeare is showing that Hamlet has arrived at an understanding that for him to be free he has to die. Hamlet still sees death as unnatural, but now he sees death and an escape and a safe haven.
Many of William Shakespeare’s plays explore the complexities and significance of life and death. Indeed, in Hamlet the notion of death and mortality is considered throughout the play. Author C.S. Lewis describes Hamlet as an ‘essay on death’. Although the play presents Hamlet’s perceptions on the subject, Shakespeare provokes the audience to explore their own understanding of the significance of our existence. Throughout the play Hamlet considers death and mortality from both a spiritual perspective in his fears about suicide and the afterlife and ponders the physical reminders of death in Yorik’s skull and the inevitable decay of our own bodies.