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Hamlet Death Analysis

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In William Shakespeare's famous play, Hamlet, death is a central theme that raises many questions for and about the main characters. The death of King Hamlet sets the plot of the play in motion and the appearance of a ghost begins the play itself. Young Hamlet, prince of Denmark, is plagued by several questions concerning the ideas, properties, and the reality that is death. These questions and notions about death are closely connected with themes such as spirituality, truth, and uncertainty. Furthermore, because death is the cause and end result of revenge, the theme of death is intimately intertwined with the theme of justice and revenge. The intermingling nature of such concepts and inquiries lead to uncertainty about human nature and life …show more content…

As Hamlet contemplates the idea and ramifications of suicide he remarks that he wished "the Everlasting had not fixed / His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!" (1.2.135). These remarks show how Hamlet questions the spiritual aspects of death and suicide. His traditional Catholic beliefs condemn the taking of one's own life. This speech, then, shows how Hamlet contemplates his particular religion's set of rules and how his obsession with death relates to these religious conventions. Hamlet is distressed due to his father's death and his mother's current affairs. He is constantly troubled with the question of whether it is nobler to suffer in silence or to take his own life. However, as seen in this passage, the taking of his life is prohibited through his own religious beliefs. Therefore, while fixating on suicide and the concept of life after death, Hamlet is also fixating on his religion and all that represents and teaches. This moral dilemma of suffering or ending one's suffering becomes a spiritual dilemma as well. After the visitation of the ghost, Hamlet questions, even further, the spiritual nature of the afterlife. The ghost of his father, the embodiment of the spiritual afterlife, tells Hamlet to seek revenge for his father's death. Hamlet seeks to set things right, but he continues to question the apparition. Before acting on his want for revenge and justice, he needs to be certain that this ghost is certainly his father and that these accusations against Claudius are true. He remarks that the apparition could be "a devil, and the devil hath power / T' assume a pleasing shape" and that conceivably, "out of [his] own weakness and [his] melancholy" this devil hopes to damn him (2.2.628-632). These remarks reflect the contemplative nature held inside Hamlet. He wants to be absolutely certain that his actions and feelings are not

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Hamlet is looking to heaven and hell in an attempt to gain some sort of divine understanding of the ghost’s revelation. When he talks to the ghost of his father, his mood changes to anger because he finds out that his father was murdered. This new information leads him to want revenge for his

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Death seems to be the biggest mystery in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. From the start of the play with the Ghost of Hamlets father appearing to avenge his death, to Hamlet’s most popular “To be or Not to be” soliloquy, and to the plays bloody conclusion; the uncertainty of death seems to always be on our protagonist mind. Death has become a recurring theme throughout this whole play. His thoughts of death range from death in a spiritual matter, the truth and uncertainty in what death may bring, and the question of his own death.

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Hamlet brings up complex questions about life and death, and what it means to live. Josh Hirsh’s book on this soliloquy, The “To be, or not to be’’ Speech: Evidence, Conventional Wisdom, and the Editing of Hamlet, addresses the idea of the Christian prohibition of suicide, although it isn't mentioned explicitly. Committing suicide was considered a sin to Catholic audiences because they believed no one can justify the intentional taking of an innocent human life. In fact, they strongly believed suicide would deprive society of the contribution and activity of an individual, and that it usurped the function of God.

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By using battle imagery to describe both enduring life problems and opposing them through death, Hamlet presents death as an equally courageous and honourable course of action compared to living life. This quote demonstrates how Hamlet negotiates between the desire of

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Hamlet is expressing to the audience at the beginning of the play where he feels depressed, in a dark place wanting to disappear. He feels in deep anguish and despair because of his father's death and his mother's remarriage to his uncle, Claudius. Because of society and God, Hamlet refrained from taking his own life. The text reveals the struggle he's going through in real life and in his own thoughts. Religion played a huge part in the era Hamlet grew up in, God is mentioned many times in the soliloquy.

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In Hamlet, William Shakespeare creates a character that we both pity and appreciate who also is aware of his flaw, but is unable to overcome it because of his own uncertainty which results in his demise. The play begins with the siting of the Late King Hamlet of Denmark’s ghost to the night watchmen. They decide they should bring Hamlet, The Prince of Denmark to see it for himself. Hamlet has just returned to court and is stricken with grief because of the death of his father, astonishment and disgust at the soon after wedding of his Mother to his uncle, now the King of Denmark.

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Under the beliefs of Christianity, if one goes through with the act of suicide, they are bound to eternity in hell and it is for this reason that Hamlet wishes suicide wasn’t a sin, as is shown when he says, “Or that the Everlasting had not fixed his canon ‘gainst self-slaughter!” As a result of this belief of existence that Hamlet has lived by, he reluctantly refrains from taking his own life. Although, this urge to end his own life and the reluctance he displays when deciding not to also shows the beginning of the

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Though seemingly driven by his love for his father, previous soliloquies given by Hamlet reveal his true motivation. From his first appearance, Hamlet fixates on the rules of the Christian church, fretting, “that the Everlasting had not fix'd/ His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!” (Shakespeare, 1.2.131–132). Though Hamlet desires to kill himself and “shuffle[d] off the mortal coil” (Shakespeare, 3.1.68), the laws of his religion restrain him. Serendipitously, his father appears to him as a ghost, requesting vengeance for Claudius's actions against the throne of Denmark.

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In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the main protagonist, Prince Hamlet, is tangled with the theme of death. During the play, he presents how his life is surrounded with death after his father, King Hamlet, dies. Death theme is the most occurring theme Shakespeare writes about in his plays, which most of his plays have a very dramatic death ending and involve the death of the main protagonist. Throughout the play, Shakespeare presents the idea of life, which is the never ending cycle of revenge and death. Shakespeare starts the death theme with the death of King Hamlet, which stimulates Hamlet to seek for revenge with his various soliloquies considering death from various points of view and certainly leads to a dramatic ending.

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The ghost’s appearance has a significant impact on Hamlet’s behaviors and forms his decisions through the play. Hamlet, who is suffering from depression since he is dealing with his father’s death and the hasty marriage of his mother with Claudius, his uncle, became obsessed with the concept of life and death after seeing his father’s ghost. In the first appearance of the ghost, he reveals the truth about the how the king has been murdered, which drives Hamlet to seek revenge, and by revenge killing his uncle. The ghost establishes a dilemma and gives Hamlet time to think about his father’s request. But Hamlet has an uncertainty about the existence of the ghost as he notes “the spirit that I have seen may be the devil, and the devil hath power T ' assume a pleasing shape” (2.2.561–563) here, Hamlet is concerned that the ghost may be the devil and questions the motivation of the ghost for killing Claudius.

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Petar Antovski Professor Matthew Hotsinpiller English 2 19 July 2015 The Mystery of Death Ideas, beliefs and myths pertaining to the mystery of death imbue the eternal story of Hamlet, a work of literature art that can to this day urge its every reader to question their own faith and spirituality. From the beginning we are catapulted into a world where the limits between life and death are blurred, where the worlds of the living and the dead are joined. After all, one of the first characters to appear is the ghost of Old Hamlet. Even in the opening scene Shakespeare establishes a certain fascination with the dead.

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Shakespeare presents death as an inevitable act of life, noting that all that is living must eventually come to an end. Due to “Hamlet” being a Shakespearean tragedy, the theme of death recurs throughout the play. Additionally, Shakespeare can be seen as using revenge as the main motive of a character’s murder, which makes “Hamlet” a revenge tragedy. The tragic nature means that by the end of the play, majority of the characters would have died. In this case, many of the characters have died due to murder or suicide.

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Christians believed that people either got eternal life or eternal damnation. It clearly showed in psalm that suicide is equal to murder, and only God can decided the final destiny of single person. In the play,Hamlet’s question “To be or not to be” also can be inferred as why humans should abound the chance to have a love and peaceful afterlife by killing themselves. His question further approved the punishment brought by suicide. Moreover, this play showed the principle of Christianity by the funeral of Ophelia.

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Hamlet states, “ The spirit that I have seen, may be the devil, and the devil hath power, T’ assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps, out of my weakness and my melancholy, as he is very potent with such spirits, abuses me to damn me” (II.ii.627-632). The ghost resembles his father and leaves Hamlet confused and concerned. From the quote in the play, Hamlet believes that the ghost could possibly be the devil trying to persuade him into evil to continue his suffering. He also believes the ghost is targeting him because of his suffering; making him more vulnerable to evil. After numerous interactions between Hamlet and the ghost, the ghost reveals that he is Hamlet’s father.

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In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Hamlet not only has to deal with the revenge for his father’s death, but also has to make a decision between life and death. The first death theme in Hamlet is from the murder of King Hamlet, who is a ghost

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