Doubt And Uncertainty In Hamlet By William Shakespeare

Throughout the play, Hamlet deals with a lot of doubt and uncertainty about his existence along with the contemplation of life and death, getting seemingly close to suicide until he decides to not go down that route although it may end the “eternal suffering”. This is expanded upon in his famous soliloquy “To be or not to be', which literally means to be dead or alive. He even goes further to compare life to “a sea of troubles”. The thoughts of life and death, doubt and uncertainty, and madness overtake him and it affects his perception entirely. He comes to the realization that death is inevitable and can’t be avoided. Though Hamlet still struggles to make sense of his life and everything around him as well as what happens after death and

The consequences unfold with revenge and forgiveness. Life must be lived as much as possible until you take your last breath. It all started when the ghost appeared in Act 1 and said “His most horrible murder. Murder’s always horrible, but this one was especially horrible, weird, and unnatural.” (1.5. 21). This kicks off when the ghost of King Hamlet tells him how he was murdered by Claudius, his brother. This then causes a whole bunch of events and Hamlet begins questioning everything that he thought was certain in life. He becomes fairly indecisive and grows madder which shows his uncertainty to avenge his father based on the information from the ghost. Also in Act 3 Scene 3, Hamlet had the opportunity to kill Claudius while he was praying but doesn't as he believes it would send him to heaven. This portrays uncertainty about how Claudius should die and what consequences are in store for

One being that Claudius killed the King and no one knows it, well except Hamlet of course. Hamlet even has the players act it out following a fairly similar story, which leads to Claudius getting enraged and knowing something is up. This then led him to send off Hamlet to England to take care of business when in reality it was to kill him. Hamlet catches on and changes the letter/notice so Rosencrantz and Guildenstern end up getting killed, two people who used to be fairly good friends with him but ended up betraying him and becoming the king’s puppets. Their death was inevitable and with such a huge betrayal it was coming sooner or later. Polonius even died by eavesdropping on Gertrude and Hamlet’s conversation, although Hamlet did think it was Claudius hiding. Ophelia dies slowly by madness and then supposedly drowns in a lake. Also in Act 4 Scene 1, Gertrude drinks from a poisoned cup that was supposed to be for Hamlet (which she had no clue), thus leading to her death. Then, with Laertes and the poisoned swords. Claudius being stabbed with the poisoned sword and forced to have the poisoned drink. Finally, Hamlet got hit with the poisoned sword in the battle but only realized this after the information was revealed to him by Laertes. The closest people to Hamlet couldn't be trusted and uncertainty surrounded him everywhere. They all