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Hamlet Death Analysis

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Death, and what comes after it, has fascinated human for as long as we have been able to conceptualize it. Fear and curiosity drove a ceaseless search for the ultimate unknown: the afterlife. Tied to this obsession with mortality is the concept of causing death, either someone else’s or your own. William Shakespeare focuses on the ideas and taboo nature that surround death, specifically suicide, in his play Hamlet. Through Hamlet’s soliloquies, the events surrounding Ophelia’s demise, and the truly tragic ending of the play, Shakespeare shows the conflict between the preoccupation with death and the possible relief it could provide and the religious, moral, and other possible drawbacks that concern the act of ending a life. Hamlet’s internal …show more content…

This is reminiscent of Hamlet’s longing him to be able to die without doing anything. Though the Shakespeare never gives the reader a clear view of Ophelia through a soliloquy concerning her thoughts on suicide, he shows the consequences and thoughts of her actions in two scenes after her death: the gravediggers’ conversation and her funeral. The gravediggers, most likely peasants, question whether Ophelia deserves a Christian burial, …show more content…

This is again shown when one of the gravediggers hypothesizes, “If this had not been a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o’ Christian burial” (5.1.24-26). From these gravediggers’ perspective, or even the more broad lower class view they are meant to represent, suicide is a sin, and makes her undeserving of the honors of a Christian burial. This theme of being unworthy or lesser in the eyes of religion due to suicide continues into the funeral scene, the priest describing Ophelia’s death as “doubtful,” and refusing to give her all the Christian burial rights (5.1.234). Still, at the funeral, it is never directly stated that Ophelia killed herself, just as Gertrude first tells the Claudius and Laertes of Ophelia’s death in euphemisms, sterilizing what had happened (4.7.190-208). Suicide is seen as taboo and not something to speak about openly, especially by the upper

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Death has been an important theme since the beginning of the play. It is first mentioned with the murder of the late king. It is mentioned again in act 5. Act 5 scene 1 opens up in a graveyard where two gravediggers are burying the body of Ophelia. Through the conversation of the gravediggers, Shakespeare uses a reference about suicide to Christianity.

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Although the audience can relate to the general scenarios Hamlet undergoes, most of his experiences are quite incomprehensible to the average person. Thus, proposing these questions naturally leads the audience to put themselves in Hamlet’s shoes, evaluating the “whips and scorns” he has endured, which in turn generates empathy. Interestingly enough, empathy and projection are opposite ideas (Abeles); as Hamlet attempts to redirect the focus off of himself, the audience does the exact opposite by evaluating Hamlet’s life from his cynical yet unique perspective. At the same time, the audience can still identify with Hamlet’s pain stemming from the loss of his father and disconnect with his lover, among other

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A priest, a follower of God believed that, a person committed suicide will not receive a Christian burial (Miller, 2013). Then the other gravedigger then argued that, “While you ha’ the truth on’t? If this had not been a gentlewoman, she should been buried out o ” (V.i.22-24), which means, Ophelia is receiving a Christian burial because of her background. She is from a high social class with a powerful

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This is where we first see Ophelia deteriorating a person. The next thing that drove her off a cliff was her father being murdered. Claudius said “O, this is the poison of deep grief;

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Suicide is a reoccuring theme in Hamlet. Since this is a theme that affects all characters to a certain degree, it is interesting to see how the idea of suicide is treated both morally, religiously and aesthetically. This essay will mostly be based on Hamlet´s own soliloquies, considering their relevance to the theme, but Queen Gertrude´s treatment of Ophelia´s death is also worth a mention. The story of Hamlet takes place in medieval Denmark, but a precise date is not mentioned.

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