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?
In Hamlet 's mind the idea of dying is not what scares him. It is the uncertainty of what the afterlife is that frightens Hamlet away from the actual act, even though he 's infatuated with how to kill himself and get to the other side. The point in the story that is really a turning point for Hamlet occurs in the graveyard scene (Act V) Before; Hamlet has been horrified and shocked. When he sees Yorick 's skull there, which is someone Hamlet loved and
…show more content…
The death of both women also signifies something as well to the readers. To me it seems that the women play an important role in this simply because the role they do play is some as to why Hamlet is the way he is. Hamlet is at his most erratic when talking to or about either of the two ladies although he does care for both; he 's skeptical, as well. In the case of his mother, Gertrude, Hamlet feels she remarried too quickly and that her remarriage means she didn 't love her first husband, Hamlets father, all that much. The idea is hard for Hamlet to figure out. Hamlet expresses his depression with the situation and his grudge toward his mother with a sarcastic statement that connects the funeral and the marriage. Hamlet does not like the idea of his mother and uncle getting together, especially since it is so soon after his father’s
In the beginning of the play Hamlet's view of death is mournful but, as the play continues he begins to think of death as this incredibly terrifying concept, this is clear when he states “To die,to sleep-- to sleep, perchance to dream […] But that the dread of something after death, The undiscovered country of whose bourn” (Shakespeare III i
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.
There is lively critical debate about the themes in the Shakespearean drama Hamlet and their proper ranking in importance. This paper hopes to discuss the some of the main themes and their significance in the play.
Firstly, Shakespeare proves that Hamlet’s attitude towards death changes throughout the play because he starts off desiring death. The play begins with the ghost of Hamlet’s father visiting the courtyard while Bernardo and Horatio are there (1.1) Bernardo is the first to notice the ghost, and exclaims “In the same figure, like the King that’s
“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.
In act 3, Hamlet questions the unbearable pain of life and views death through the metaphor of sleep. "To be or not to be: that is the question: / 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. To die, to sleep / no more" (3.1.64-68), details which bring up new thoughts about what happens in the after life. Thus, Hamlet contemplates suicide, but his lacking knowledge about what awaits him in the afterworld causes him to question what death will bring. For example he states, "The undiscovered country, from whose bourn / no traveler returns, puzzles the will / and makes us rather bear those ills we have / than fly to others that we know not of" (3.1.87-90), again revealing his growing concern with "Truth" and his need for certainty. Once again, death appears in act 4 with the suicide of Ophelia, the demand for Hamlet's execution and the gravedigger scene. All of these situations tie back with how death is all around Hamlet and feeds his obsession with it. Finally in act 5, Hamlet meets his own death, as his obsession to know leads to the death of himself.
Hamlet’s psychological influence demonstrates his dread of both death and life. In Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, “To be or not to be” (3.1.64), he refers the “be” to life and further asks “whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” (3.1.65.66). By this, Hamlet is asking himself the question of whether to live or die.
Hamlet’s belief in what happens after you die first came about after his father’s ghost tells him about his experience with dying before repenting of your sins. In act 1 scene 5, the ghost of Hamlet’s father says,
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...
After a death, we find ways of overcoming 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.We can say that Hamlet was very indecisive of living or not. He showed many signs of suicidal thoughts. Many can argue and say that Hamlet was depressed. Coming back home from school to attend his father's funeral in Denmark made him discover many things, such as, his mother Gertrude remarried to Hamlet's uncle Claudius who is the dead king's brother. To Hamlet he finds it loathsome for his
Tragic death plays a really big role in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Hamlet often considers death in many different perspectives, and definitely obsesses with the idea more so after his fathers’ death. Hamlet’s soliloquy is one of the most famous in literature, “To be or not to be, that is the question…” Hamlet’s dilemma is the pain of life that he must endure or the uncertainty of death. From the beginning of the play to the very last scene, the fascination between life and death plays a role throughout. Hamlet is troubled through the play after realizing that his uncle was the one who murdered his father and is now married to his mother. He wants to avenge Hamlet Sr. death and kill Claudius but feels that killing himself would be an easier resolution. After the death of his murdered father and appearance at his funeral, Hamlet will not leave anywhere without making the statement of his all black attire on the inside and out. The turn of events throughout the play only help the reader understand the debt of each character and their specific role to Hamlet and to the story in regards to life and death.
Hamlet’s Concern with Death In Hamlet’s first soliloquy (ll. 1.2.129-159) , Shakespeare uses a biblical lexicon, apostrophes, and depictions of corporeal decay to show Hamlet’s preoccupation with the fate of a person after death.
In his tragedy Hamlet, William Shakespeare explores and analyzes the concept of mortality and the inevitability of death through the development of Hamlet’s understanding and ideology regarding the purpose for living. Through Hamlet’s obsessive fascination in understanding the purpose for living and whether death is the answer, Shakespeare analyzes and interprets the meaning of different elements of mortality and death: The pain death causes to others, the fading of evidence of existence through death, and the reason for living. While due to the inevitable and unsolvable mystery of the uncertainty of death, as no being will ever empirically experience death and be able to tell the tale, Shakespeare offers an answer to the reason for living through an analysis of Hamlet’s development in understanding death.
He is always worrying that he will be sent to hell for committing a sin. He believes in God and he believes in a heaven. Since Hamlet believes in both heaven and our God, he is not able to commit suicide and depart from this world. He wishes that he could die, but at the same time he knows that he must live. God decides where and when people die and his judgment is supposed to be final. Humans just think that they can end their lives and they 'll be alright with that. But it is God who determines when life is brought in and out of the world. Therefore, this is partly why Hamlet didn’t commit suicide.
Hamlet isn’t a play that ends the conversation of death, but to contemplate it with a greater audience. Hamlet is so multi-faceted that it would be selling it short to call it a specific kind of play that only revolves around the tragedies that unfold throughout the play. The conversations of death go far beyond that of the deaths of individual’s such as King Hamlet, in his death we the audience gets to explore the broader conversation that Shakespeare starts in relation to death. He breaks the barriers that confined the conversation of death to the Church and gives reason to the general populace to explore death in an introspective way. In Hamlet’s hope to find reason in his world full of greed and treachery, we find ourselves on a path to understand, but also to contemplate alongside Hamlet what truly is death and how it does not discriminate. In reading Hamlet with respect to the historical backdrop of Shakespeare’s life we can without stretching the interpretations of the text to our advantages can say Shakespeare drew inspiration by the inherently deceitful practices that the church and state participated in during the renaissance. Shakespeare’s story isn’t setting out to teach a life lesson, or a universal truth, but rather through the addition of his voice on the matters of death and kingship, he subverts the monopoly that the church and those who have royal blood hold on that