ipl-logo

Examples Of Selfishness In Hamlet

1267 Words6 Pages

Bryant H. McGill once said, “The world is not fair, and often fools, cowards, liars and the selfish hide in high places.” One of William Shakespeare’s most famous tragic stories, Hamlet, is about a prince and his vision to see vengeance for his father’s death at whatever cost. In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses Prince Hamlet’s identity, sarcasm, madness, and suicidal tendencies to reveal what selfishness can do to oneself. Throughout his life, Hamlet tries to find his identity in different people and in his actions. In the beginning of Hamlet, it is revealed that Prince Hamlet’s father was killed and his uncle has become the new king of Denmark as well as taken up the role of Hamlet’s father. This is what leads to Hamlet’s first words in the play, …show more content…

During consideration Hamlet says to himself, “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, God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!” (1.2.133-138). Hamlet wishes that all this could dissolve into nothingness so he can be free from the weight he feels of bringing justice to his father. No more responsibilities would be laid upon him. Later on Hamlet thinks about suicide and what motivates people to act or not. Upon thinking about these things, Hamlet states his most famous soliloquy, “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--and by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to--‘tis a consummation devoutly to be wished!” (3.1.64-72). His thoughts about the reasoning behind committing suicide is that perhaps it is more honorable to endure all the trials faced in this life but to die would end them all, which would prevent oneself from ever feeling another

Show More
Related
282 Words | 2 Pages

To die- to sleep- No more; and by a sleep to say we end the heartache. ”(ACT III scene i) In this quote we see Hamlet debate his own life and consider whether dying would be better than to

Read More
727 Words | 3 Pages

Hamlet pushing away others causes his descent into madness. As he slowly loses his sanity, the idea of death looks more and more appealing. Shakespeare shows this idea through Hamlet’s soliloquy: “To be, or not to be: that is the question” (Shakespeare, line 57). The fact that Shakespeare used a soliloquy in this scene shows how much Hamlet’s solitude has affected how he views his life. His thoughts of suicide race as he finds himself alone, separating himself from the betrayal in his family.

Read More
1765 Words | 8 Pages

When applied correctly, soliloquies successfully allow the reader to experience characters in their most vulnerable state: within their own minds. Hamlet is no exception to this principle, as Shakespeare’s mastery of rhetoric in establishing the main character’s inner conflict provides depth and rawness to his complex character. In this well-known soliloquy, Shakespeare employs logos to acknowledge that death can be both a relief and nightmare due to natural human emotions; accordingly, Hamlet personifies a severe case of teenage depression by simultaneously wishing for an end to suffering yet remaining hesitant to act on his own thoughts due to his fear of the unknown.         Throughout this passage, Hamlet attempts to rationalize ending his life over continuing to endure the painful reality of his existence. The parallelism in this particular soliloquy serves several rhetorical purposes, including the development of an implicit contrast between Hamlet’s mental state and the actual organization of his thoughts.

Read More
995 Words | 4 Pages

Hamlet sparks an internal philosophical debate on the advantages and disadvantages of existence and whether it is nobler to live miserably or to end one's sorrow with a single stroke. Hamlet is in a state of madness that leads him to question get suicide, comparing it to a peaceful sleep. Through Hamlet's internal struggle with suicide his conscience guides him to live. Hamlet is contemplating suicide because he is going mad over the truth of his father's death, and his mother remarrying so quickly. ” Hamlet is suffering” due to the loss of his dear father “and he wants his anguish and strong passion abundantly evident to the audience”(Source1,Point3).

Read More
1105 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the play, Hamlet has various points where he is confronted with suicidal thoughts or attempts. Throughout Hamlet’s first soliloquy “Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, / Thaw resolve itself into a dew, / Or that the Everlasting had not fixed/ His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! Oh God, God!”

Read More
1071 Words | 5 Pages

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet struggles to cope with his late father’s death and his mother’s quick marriage. In Act 1, Scene 2, King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, and Hamlet are all introduced. Hamlet has just finished publicly speaking with his mom and the new king, and after he is interrupted by his good friend Horatio, who reveal the secret about King Hamlet’s ghost. Hamlet’s soliloquy is particularly crucial because it serves as his initial characterization, revealing the causes of his anguish. Hamlet’s grief is apparent to the audience, as he begins lamenting about the uselessness of life.

Read More
628 Words | 3 Pages

Like many things, Hamlet is intelligent and honorable, but his indecisiveness is the cause of his tragic downfall. In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare portrays that Hamlet is very incapable of finishing the task at hand. Throughout the drama Hamlet faces many trials and tribulations due to his late father Hamlet, who was murderously killed by Claudius. His inability to kill Claudius and himself is one grand flaw of an epic hero. After King Hamlets passing, Hamlet entered an unknown state of mind that not only feared others for his wellbeing, but also feared himself.

Read More
273 Words | 2 Pages

In Act 5 of the play, Hamlet reveals a new understanding of life and death. He reveals that while he used to worry about his fate and used to try to control everything in his life. But he realizes what will be, will be. Hamlet spends so much of the play contemplating how he feels, making plans, justifying and complaining about his lack of action. But after his being sent to England and his subsequent discovery of the King's command for his death and his dealings with the pirates, he realizes that he can't control every aspect of his life.

Read More
421 Words | 2 Pages

Hamlet contemplates suicide as a way to escape his troubles, but he ultimately decides against it because of his fear of the afterlife. As the play progresses, Hamlet's view

Read More
962 Words | 4 Pages

He maintains that his life has no value throughout the play and contemplates suicide. Hamlet's questioning thoughts on life's worth is further expressed the ten lines of 203-212 in act V scene i. which read ““No, faith, not a jot, but to follow him thither/ with modesty enough and likelihood to lead it:/ Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander retur-/ neth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we make/ loam, and why of that loam whereto he was con-/ verted might they not stop a beer-barrel?/ Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay,/ Might stop a hole to keep the wind away./ O that the earth which kept the world in awe/ Should patch a wall t' expel the winter's flaw!” Hamlet speaks these lines during an exchange with the gravediggers, one who was singing and juggling skulls while he worked. In these lines, Hamlet explains how no one's life is really worth anything because, in the end, we are all reduced to corpses, skulls, dust, and clay. By using Alexander and Caesar as examples, two influential and powerful leaders of

Read More
370 Words | 2 Pages

However, Hamlet senses that the option of suicide is not the right decision for him because it is forbidden by religion. For example, within the Christian

Read More
1250 Words | 5 Pages

In the “To be or not to be” soliloquy, Hamlet says, “To die, to sleep/ No more—and by a sleep to say we end/ The heartache and the thousand natural shocks/ That flesh/ is heir to—’tis a consummation/ Devoutly to be wished!”(3.1 61-64) Proving that he is so distraught about taking action against his uncle that he believes that death would be an easier alterative to losing his purity and innocence. He ultimately decides that suicide is not the answer, “With this regard their currents turn awry/ And lose the name of action,” (3.1 88-89) because he cannot take the uncertainty of the afterlife. This entire soliloquy also highlights Hamlets delayed action to his problems.

Read More
887 Words | 4 Pages

The personality of such characters as Hamlet from William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is much remarked upon. However, it is even more meaningful to analyze changes in Hamlet’s character throughout the play. As Hamlet becomes more driven in his revenge, his actions lose morality and gain consequences. In fact, Shakespeare uses the relationship between a character’s cruelty and the meaning in the pain they cause to comment on the cyclically destructive nature of cruelty.

Read More
880 Words | 4 Pages

Hamlet’s ability to overthink situations or decisions makes him conclude that committing suicide might be the easy way out of his indecisiveness. Hamlet overthinks every problem that is happening. He overthinks so much that he cannot make up his decision about what to do with the problem. The cluelessness that is going on within his mind makes him lose his mental status, life and the love of his life. Hamlets actions are hypnotized by his thoughts: “Thus Conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought, And enterprises of great pitch and moment, With this regard their currents turn awry, And lose the name of action” (3.1.85-90).

Read More
1156 Words | 5 Pages

When Hamlet encounters his Father death, he becomes obsessed with death itself. He begins to wonder if suicide is the answer to end his suffering. In the play, hamlet says “O, that this too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw and resolve itself into a dew”(I.ii.133-138).

Read More

More about Examples Of Selfishness In Hamlet

Open Document