The Inevitability of Death (A Discussion of the Theme of Death in Act V of Hamlet) All around the world we as human live very different lives. There are countless different cultures, religions, and ideologies. History has proven the vast contrast two civilizations can have. There is however one thing every person from any nation, race, or class have in common. From whatever background you come, we as humans will one day face death. It is said that death is the great equalizer. Even if you are of the highest esteem and are buried abounding in wealth, you are still bones in the ground. Death does not discriminate against any human, despite race, nationality, religion, sex, or even age. It is because of this, that death has often intrigued many …show more content…
Before the duel is proposed to Hamlet, we are informed of Laertes fighting ability. This creates doubt in Horatio's mind about his best friend, Hamlets ability to win. As Horatio tired to stop him, Hamlet informs him that he has been in continual practice since Laertes left for Paris, and that he believes he can win. However Hamlet does admit to an uneasy feel, but resolves that he should disregard it. Horatio advises him not to ignore his mind when it tells him that something is wrong. Hamlet then delivers the following lines saying, “There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all. Since no man of aught he leaves, knows aught, what is’t to leave betimes?” (Act V, Scene II, lines 211-215) In these comments, Hamlet suggests that a man never knows when he will die but that a man's death is preordained. Death will come to all of us when it is meant to. This means that it is not when death occurs that matters, whether that be now or later, but the readiness of the man, how prepared he is for death. At this point, Hamlet is ready to avenge his father or die
Death comes to all in the end, shrouded in mystery, occasionally bringing with it pain, and while some may welcome its finality, others may fight it with every ounce of their strength. Humans have throughout the centuries created death rituals to bring them peace and healing after the death of a loved one.
In many cultures all over the world their religions view death in numerous different ways. The author Leslie Marmon Silko depicts this in a short story called “The Man to Send Rain Clouds”. The author herself is of mixed ancestry including Laguna Pueblo Indian, Mexican, and white enabling her to write a short complex story of a culture trying to maintain their own religion when living in a society of what religion is expected and right in others eyes(Literature for Life, 1243). The theme of “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” focuses on death, understanding everyone has different cultures, and respecting others.
Throughout the play Horatio constantly tries to bring Hamlet back to reality by advising him to follow his mind instead of his heart. When Hamlet decides to follow the ghost, Horatio strongly opposes by saying, “What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord, or to the dreadful summit of the cliff that beetles o’er his base into the sea, and there assume some other horrible form, which might deprive your sovereignty of reason and draw you into madness?” (Shakespeare 1, 4, 69-74). Horatio’s warning to Hamlet suggests the idea that he views the unknown more cautiously than the reckless prince. Additionally Horatio’s inference about how the ghost might “drive [Hamlet] into madness”(1, 4, 74) displays a foreshadowing of Hamlet’s fate, emphasizing the idea that the warnings from the spokesman of common sense goes unheeded by the tragic hero. In addition to giving advice against the ghost, Horatio advises Hamlet in the matter of the match with Laertes saying, “If your mind dislike anything, obey it” (5, 2, 18). By this advice Horatio implies that he as well holds a suspicion against the King and Laertes and has doubts towards the match as Hamlet does, however, Hamlet ignores this sensible advice and leaves his life into the hands of
As a logical thinker, Horatio is expecting the worst, perhaps that the past King Hamlet will want the young Hamlet to be reunited with him, the only possible way of this being death. Just as Horatio fears, Hamlet ignores his petitioning to ignore the current notion, and as a final plea to convince his love not to go, he physically holds Hamlet back while commanding him not to go (Shakespeare I.III.87). Despite Horatio’s begging and pleading, Hamlet brushes off his pleas and visits the ghost of his father. Doing this truly upsets Horatio because the last situation he wants to imagine is Hamlet leaving him for the dead.
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.
"To be or not to be? That is the question." (Shakespeare 57) Hamlet opens his famous soliloquy with the question whether it is harder to live and endure the many vicissitudes of life or to die and face the unknown territory of death. He wondered what happens after one dies, and what awaits each of us. The uncertainty in knowing what is to come of us after death, led Hamlet to believe that fear is generated by the unknown, for it makes people fear the things they cannot see and control. He reasoned that if our certitude of what happens after death is absolute, then people would willingly bear the grief that life so kindly offers. Hamlet raises the following philosophical question, is it harder
Death is inescapable for all living beings. It is the one commonality all cultures share. It is an equalizer in a world of diversity. Although death itself is absolute, the practices which surround death are varied and complex from culture to culture and individual to individual. As Mike Parker Pearson elaborates:
Hamlet’s ultimate battle with his emotions happens right before the fencing match with Laertes. With just one phrase, Hamlet defeats the emotions that have been plaguing him not to act: “Readiness is all…Let be”(5.2.221). These two words signify Hamlet’s preparedness to exact revenge for his father’s murder. Before this quotation, Hamlet’s emotions were impeding his actions. Now that his emotions are gone, Hamlet is ready to act.
...r. Hamlet speaks to Horatio quietly, almost serenely, with the unexultant calm which characterizes the end of the long, inner struggle of grief. He has looked at the face of death in his father’s ghost, he has now endured death and loss in all the human beings he has loved, and he now accepts those losses as an inevitable part of his own condition. “He states, “The readiness is all” suggesting what is perhaps the last and most difficult task of mourning, his own readiness to die” (Bloom 135). Hamlet recognizes and accepts his own death.
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?
From the appearance of the Ghost at the start of the play to its bloody conclusion, Hamlet is pervaded with the notion of death. What better site for a comic interlude than a graveyard? However, this scene is not merely a bit of comic relief. Hamlet's encounter with the gravedigger serves as a forum for Shakespeare to elaborate on the nature of death and as a turning point in Hamlet's character. The structure and changing mood of the encounter serve to move Hamlet and the audience closer to the realization that death is inevitable and universal.
“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.
Hamlet's fatal flaw is his inability to act. Unlike his father, Hamlet lets his intelligence rather than his heroism govern him. When he has a chance to kill Claudius, and take vengeance for his father's murder, he hesitates, reckoning that if he kills the man while he is at prayer, Claudius would have asked for pardon from the Lord and been forgiven of his sins, therefore allowing him to enter Heaven. Hamlet decides to wait for a better opening. His flaw of being hesitant in the end leads to his own death, and also the deaths of Gertrude, Ophelia, Laertes, and Claudius.
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, suicide is treated differently on the aspects of religion, morals, and philosophical views. Suicide is the act of deliberately killing yourself in contrary to your own best interests. In today’s society suicide is highly looked down upon. But Shakespeare used suicide and violence in almost all of his most popular plays. Many of his tragedies used the element of suicide, some accomplished, others merely contemplated. Shakespeare used suicide as a dramatic device. A character’s suicide could promote a wide range of emotions: horror, condemnation to pity, and even respect. Some of his suicides could even take titles like the noble soldier, the violated woman, and star-crossed lovers. In Othello, Othello see suicide as the only escape from the pangs and misery of life. In The Rape of Lucrece, Lucrece kills herself after being raped because she cannot live with her shame. And in Romeo and Juliet, the two lovers could not find happiness if life, so death was perceived as a way that they could be united with each other. Shakespeare was dealing with a very controversial subject: Was it right to end life in order to escape the cruel and unjust world? In the time of the Renaissance, many things had an impact on suicide such as religion, morals, and aesthetic views.
William Shakespeare's’ Hamlet tells the story of a great tragedy in which death is the permeating idea and connective thread. Through the experiences of Hamlet, Shakespeare is able to explore the complexities of life and death. Following the murder of his father, Hamlet seeks to avenge his death in the process of defining the meaning of his own life within himself. In the process of reaching complete madness, Hamlet contemplates his own death, experiences the death of those closest to him, and causes death. From these experiences, he further explores the concepts of mortality and the afterlife. Death is present in every aspect of the play because it allows Hamlet to explore his reflections and realizations on the futility of the human condition,