Hamlet Closing Scene Analysis

Hamlet is tragedy play William Shakespeare however doesn’t follow the conventional path of a tragedy and isn’t as straight forward. The ending scenes of Hamlet play a crucial role in providing insight and informing one’s judgment of the play as a whole by reinforcing various concepts that are presented throughout the text. Revenge plays a large role in Hamlet and the ending scenes display the devastating consequences of one’s revenge. The ending scenes also support the idea that Hamlet is a Hero who makes many sacrifices to achieve justice. Hamlets downfall was due to his procrastination and inaction is also supported in the closing scenes of Hamlet. Therefore, the closing scenes of Hamlet provides useful knowledge that can shape one’s judgement

The soliloquy “to be or not to be “asked by Hamlet questions the meaning of life and acts as a metaphor that suicide would be acceptable to escape from his life. Furthermore, this idea is supported by the repetition of “to die, to sleep; to sleep perchance to dream” is used to present that being dead is comparable to a being asleep and that death is a way to abandon reality. The thought of suicide is primarily caused by his search for vengeance and it ultimately leads to his demise. The imagery of “bear the whips and scorns of times” reveals that the more time that passes the more pain and grief he faces and implies that revenge acts as a double-edged sword as the closer he gets to his revenge the more pain he inflicts upon himself. The statement that revenge can lead to one’s madness is also represented by the character

The use of juxtaposition in the quote “Hyperion to a satyr” describes hamlet as a god of light a sun, but on the other hand calling Claudius a satyr which was a half beast. This imagery conveys that hamlet is the hero that must defeat evil and restore Denmark. In contrast Hamlet is also shown as a ‘tragic hero’ or an ‘anti-hero’ as many other people than Claudius face their demise. The metaphor “something is rotten in the state of Denmark” conveys the corruption and evil within Denmark and Hamlet must be the one to return the state of Denmark back before Claudius was king. Hamlet is also shown as a hero as he makes many sacrifices whilst seeking justice including his own life. The foreshadowing of “o cursed spite that I was ever born to set it right” suggests that the only reason that he was born was to bring peace to Denmark. This foreshadows his death as once he has defeated Claudius and restored peace he is killed and thus shows him as a self-sacrificial hero. His relationship with Ophelia is also sacrificed for his goal as he ends his relationship with Ophelia to not let his plans be known to Claudius. The line “get thee to a nunnery” is used to make it clear that Hamlet has ended his relationship with Ophelia by telling her to work in a brothel. However, the use of the hyperbole “I loved Ophelia; forty