The play Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, builds up a story beginning with the murder of Hamlet`s father, as it leads to the downfall of not only Claudius, Old King Hamlet`s brother, but also Hamlet`s death, as the story slowly unravels with the death of many other characters, and the events that shape the story into its final moments. The suggestion of suicide is the perception of escapism as one character after another considers taking their lives to escape the frustrations and pains that are associated with existing in a life where constant problems arise in reality. The death of Ophelia, the soliloquies that Hamlet recited, the death imageries, and Ophelia’s funeral, all shows suicide as an option to the problems as it becomes agonizing to bear the reality and the problems that come along with it.
Firstly, Ophelia’s death was a loss that has many individuals puzzled with whether the death of Ophelia was her simply being unable to swim as she drowned or her not attempting to save herself as she fell deeper into the brook. As the Queen of Denmark and Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, spoke the lines,
Her clothes spread wide,
And mermaid-like awhile they bore her up,
Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds,
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a create native and indued
Unto that element. But long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,
Pull`d the poor wretch from her melodious lay
To muddy death. (4.7.175-183)
The truth behind all of this was to explain to Laertes how Ophelia had died as she described how exquisite the surroundings were around Ophelia as she was found in the brook to make the death of his sister seem more like a dream as she looked peaceful and not in torment than to show t...
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...their ability to think straight. The reality that hits the characters results in the thoughts of suicide in a way to escape from reality and the problems that arise. From Hamlet`s soliloquies about suicide to Ophelia’s death to many death imageries and lastly the declaration of death from Hamlet, and Laertes at Ophelia’s funeral, displays the escapism that is desperately wanted by even taking the means of suicide to end their cruel fate that awaited them.
Works Cited
Willyson.com. HAMLET: a translation into modern English. 7 May 2007. 9 Dec 2013. .
Crowther, John, ed. “No Fear Hamlet.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.
"What Causes Insanity? Insanity Causes of Pushing to the "Breaking Point" Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/59597_what-causes-insanity-insanity-causes-of-pushing-to-the-breaking-point
Often overlooked in Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet, Shawna Maki analyzes Ophelia’s restricting role as a woman in a patriarchal society and how it essentially leads to her death being the true tragedy of the play. Maki supports this argument by stating, “Whereas Hamlet has the power and potential to change his fate, Ophelia does not and her death is tragic because the only escape she sees from her oppression is madness and death.”. The comparison between Hamlet and Ophelia is a common parallel because both characters are inevitably labeled as tragic deaths due to the quick deterioration of their state of mind.
William Shakespeare was a Stratford Grammar School boy, who was a member of the Church of England, similar to just about everyone else in Stratford. However, due to some events that occurred in the Shakespeare family home, there is some evidence that could prove that the family may have had some Roman Catholic connections. When William Shakespeare was 10 years old, legal issues and debt took a toll on his family’s life. Shakespeare’s father’s stopped attending alderman meetings which resulted in the removal of his name to become an alderman, and he was also forced to sell his beautiful home. The cause of this crisis is unknown, however the records can be used to throw together the idea that there were peculiar religious events going on (Fox). Due to these mishaps, William Shakespeare’s religion is a bit of a mystery. The play, Hamlet, was written by William Shakespeare during the Elizabethan era, which happened to be a time when religious conflicts were a big deal (Alsaif). The protagonist in the story, Hamlet, is a character who seems to make his choices through his religious beliefs. Hamlet is a very indecisive person, but his thoughts on religion tend to persuade him. In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare uses the character of Hamlet to show the flaws in all religions. Hamlet does his best to follow the rules of Christianity, but he often questions the morality involved. Although Shakespeare belonged to the Church of England, he didn’t find any particular religion to be perfect.
...She had lost her father and her lover while her brother was away for school, and she was no longer useful as a puppet in a greater scheme. Ophelia was displaced, an Elizabethan woman without the men on whom she had been taught to depend. Therein lies the problem - she lacked independence so much that she could not continue living without Polonius, Laertes, and Hamlet. Ophelia's aloneness led to her insanity and death. The form of her death was the only fitting end for her - she drowned in a nearby river, falling beneath the gentle waters. She finally found peace in her mad world. That is how Ophelia is so useful as a classic feminist study - she evokes imagery of the fragile beauty women are expected to become, but shows what happens to women when they submit as such.
While Hamlet may still be feeling depressed Hamlet moves into the stage of denial and isolation. Hamlet feels the effects of denial and isolation mostly due to his love, Ophelia. Both Hamlet’s grief and his task constrain him from realizing this love, but Ophelia’s own behavior clearly intensifies his frustration and anguish. By keeping the worldly and disbelieving advice of her brother and father as “watchmen” to her “heart” (I.iii.46), she denies the heart’s affection not only in Hamlet, but in herself; and both denials add immeasurably to Hamlet’s sense of loneliness and loss—and anger. Her rejection of him echoes his mother’s inconstancy and denies him the possibility even of imagining the experience of loving an...
After her father’s death she went mentally insane and committed suicide. The way that Ophelia committed suicide was that she drowned herself in a stream. “Apparently Shakespeare intended her to be a minor character, using her sparingly and almost forgetfully throughout the plot.” (Wagner 94) She was a minor character until she committed suicide, and this is when she became a major part to the plot. Water symbolizes emotion and intuition, and Ophelia shows these characteristics when she dies. Water in Ophelia’s case has a double meaning. The first is obviously her death and how she drowned herself, the second meaning is emotion. She had so much emotion throughout the three scenes that she appeared in. Her emotion for Hamlet, Polonius, and Laertes shows through when she talks. “There is a willow grows askant the brook, that shows his hoary leaves in the glassy stream; Therewith fantastic garlands did she make of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples, that liberal shepherds give a grosser name, but our cold maids do dead men’s fingers call them. There on the pendent boughs her crownet weeds Clamb’ring to hang, an envious sliver broke. When down her weedy trophies herself. Fell in the weeping broke. Her clothes spread wide, And mermaid-like awhile they bore her up, which time she chanted snatches of old lauds, As one incapable of her own distress, Or like a creature native and endued Unto
Hamlets feign of madness and talk about suicide, becomes Ophelias reality as she falls into depression and madness and when Hamlet kills her father, she eventually commits suicide. Ophelias psychological presence and breakdown is necessary to allow Hamlet to overthrow his current characterization. As to the audience, it is ...
It is widely believed that “Living life without honor is a tragedy bigger than death itself” and this holds true for Hamlet’s Ophelia. Ophelia’s death symbolizes a life spent passively tolerating Hamlet’s manipulations and the restrictions imposed by those around her, while struggling to maintain the last shred of her dignity. Ophelia’s apathetic reaction to her drowning suggests that she never had control of her own life, as she was expected to comply with the expectations of others. Allowing the water to consume her without a fight alludes to Hamlet’s treatment of Ophelia as merely a device in his personal agenda. Her apparent suicide denotes a desire to take control of her life for once. Ophelia’s death is, arguably, an honorable one, characterized by her willingness to let go of her submissive, earth-bound self and leave the world no longer a victim.
Apart from the ambiguity surrounding her death and her love for Hamlet, Ophelia is described by all as an innocent child, grappling with situations her youth is unprepared for. Even if she had consummated her love for Hamlet, I can still picture Ophelia as a vulnerable and innocent child who has to cope with situations beyond her control in a world where the role of the female is passive. It is this helplessness which Gertrude wants to look after as she “hoped thou should’st have been my Hamlet’s wife” and her madness which Gertrude wants to save her form by allowing Ophelia to make the decision over life and death.
William Shakespeare intended for Hamlet to be a tragic play of a hero: Hamlet. He does exactly that by allowing Hamlet to be exposed to suffering and being able to endure it without committing suicide. Although if one was to analyze the content of Hamlet’s “To be or not to be…” soliloquy once would realize that Hamlet is not really all that suicidal. However, there are moments throughout the play that arise the suspicion of Hamlet to no longer be able to endure the suffering and pain in his life. Hamlet’s judgment can be distorted when he does not act using reason but rather emotional impulse. His ability to accept and embrace suffering and pain, allows him to realize how valuable his life truly is.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet very much rests on major themes of death, revenge, action, and deception. Shakespeare uses a series of soliloquies in the play in order to convey these messages and present characters, Hamlet in particular, in a way that is in depth, contemplative, and known to the audience while hidden from the remaining characters. The soliloquies seen in Hamlet provide structure and depth to the play as a whole, creating and exemplifying dynamics between characters and action, and the way in which characters respond to differing situations, often bring an existential element of the conflict between two realities (life and afterlife). The audience also sees Hamlet’s own character come through very strongly in these soliloquies, and we see his internal struggles and turmoil with notions of life versus death, taking action, and seeking vengeance against his father’s murder. It is in these soliloquies that the audience sees into the inner thoughts of Hamlet and his reactions to the world around him. While not all soliloquies in Hamlet are Hamlet’s, for example Claudius’s, the combination acts as an outlet for understanding the motivations and thought processes behind the events that take place throughout the course of the play. For example, we see Hamlet and Claudius placed in opposition to each other and we discover their intentions thorugh their soliloquies. They act as a function to propel characters to action, and reflect back on that action (or lack there of) as a means of furthering the depth and development of each character as the play progresses. Even though a particular soliloquy is only spoken by one character, what they reveal in these inner reflections are reflective of the nature of the cast of characters as a wh...
As a result, she drowns herself in a river. One may argue that Ophelia drowned herself because
In conclusion suicide is used all throughout Shakespeare’s works. Suicide is actually used an unlucky thirteen times in some of his most popular plays. 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. Even though suicide still goes on today and the questioning of the issue, it has been like this for a very long time.
Another significant female character is Ophelia, Hamlet's love. Hamlet's quest for revenge interferes with his relationship with Ophelia. There is much evidence to show that Hamlet loved her a great deal, but his pretense of madness drove her to her death. Ophelia drowned not knowing what was happening to her. This can be deduced by the fact that she flowed down the river singing and happy when in truth she was heartbroken. Ophelia was very much afraid when she saw Hamlet "with his doublet all unbraced; No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd, Ungarter'd, and down-gyved to his ancle" (Act #. Scene #. Line #). She described him as being "loosed out of hell" (Act #. Scene #. Line #). In addition to that he scared her when he left the room with his eyes still fixed on her. She is especially hurt when Hamlet tells her that he no longer loves her and that he is opposed to marriage. He advises her to go to a nunnery and avoid marriage if she can.
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.
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 Hamlet's own speeches lie the indications for the methods we should use for its interpretation.