ipl-logo

Hamlet Mortality Essay

879 Words4 Pages

Hamlet is the most famous play by Shakespeare that made him a leading dramatist of the world, as the tragedy made him quite prominent from the time it was written to date. Throughout this play, death or mortality is the most prominent theme. The play follows the dramas of a royal family that are so ripe with mortality meaning. As the play revolves around the matters of life, love and tyranny, the major protagonists as well as antagonists, die in the end. However, their death signified their redemption because this was rather an advancement of the cause that each one of them stood for. Mortality and the complexities of life and death exist from the beginning, to the end of the play.
After the death of his father, in the first act, Hamlet and …show more content…

He tries to fight these thoughts and struggles to cope with the opposing forces that compel him to either preserve his moral integrity or to avenge his father’s murder. The theme of mortality is quite evident in Act V, with the iconic graveyard scene. In the act we realize that King Hamlet had conquered and killed the king of Norway on the day Prince Hamlet was born, marking the beginning of Denmark’s decay. With the skull of Yorick in his hand, Hamlet thinks about the brevity and futility of human existence as well as the inevitability of death. He then realizes that even the most powerful people like Julius Caesar will also go back to dust, where we all came from. He acknowledges that our afterlife is determined by God, who shapes our destiny, as shown in the quote, “When our deep plots do pall, and that should teach us. There’s a divinity that shapes our ends”. Ophelia also dies and returns to the ground after giving up his love for Hamlet when her father and brother disapprove of the relationship. Ophelia’s death was tragic because Hamlet seemed to drive her into it, especially when he took too long to avenge his father’s death. This led to the tragic death of both Ophelia and her father, Polonius. Her brother is filled with fury and vows to avenge the death of his father and sister by killing Hamlet. Ironically, Hamlet’s

Show More
Related

How Does Hamlet's View Of Death

694 Words | 3 Pages

Queen Gertrude teaches Hamlet a valuable lesson about death when she says “Thou know’st ‘tis common; all that lives must die, / Passing through nature to eternity” (1.2.74–75). She tells us that all we know is that we go from earthly existence back into the mysterious pace from whence we came. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Hamlet contemplates what happens when we die and what it means to die. Hamlet's point of view on death changes throughout the play. His views range from one side of the spectrum – contemplating the worth of life – to the other, which is death.

Read More

Symbolism Of Death In Hamlet Essay

1432 Words | 6 Pages

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.

Read More

Comparing Death And Mortality In Branagh's Play

860 Words | 4 Pages

Hamlet is a tragedy of extremes in both Branagh’s film version and Shakespeare’s play form. Death and mortality seem to be the driving forces behind all of the character’s motivations in the play, and deaths compound on other deaths. Without death, there would be no Hamlet as we know him. There is no question of to be or not to be because Hamlet must be what his dead father’s ghost asks him to be: a murderer. Before the play even begins, the audience is confronted by a Ghost that immediately shows the power that death holds over the minds of the living.

Read More

Death In Hamlet Act 1

520 Words | 3 Pages

Hamlet is upset because after everyone dies they become nothing, but a skull. He references Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar on

Read More

Contradistinction In Hamlet

388 Words | 2 Pages

Everyone, at one point or another, ponders the idea of their death and how short life is. In Act V, Scene I of Hamlet, Shakespeare notes that even royalty and nobility struggle with the concept of dying and its impact. In the scene, Hamlet encounters two desensitized gravediggers who have handled so many bodies that they elate the gruesome and morbid conditions of their practice. Originally upset with the gravediggers blasphemy, Hamlet grows more absorbed with the bodies beneath the boneyard. When he stumbles upon the decaying cranium of his jokester from adolescence, Hamlet undergoes an epiphany regarding living and dying.

Read More

Audience's Emotions In Hamlet Essay

1098 Words | 5 Pages

Hamlet now discovers what death truly entails; not meaning a disappearance of a person or their personality, but truly a complete decomposition of their physical self and sudden end to their complete existence, to where they only live on in grand memories. He knew Yorick almost as if he were a part of the royal family during Hamlet’s youth, but now he is shown as decomposed, a point that is indistinguishably identical regardless of what somebody meant to you, or what they meant to the society around them. This is soon followed by the revelation that his love, Ophelia, had died while he was on his trip to England, only cementing the pain of Hamlet’s dearly loved family being stripped away from him. Now with King Hamlet’s, Yorick's, and Ophelia's deaths looming in Hamlet’s mind, the audience sees all this personal injustice pertaining to Hamlet and can’t help to feel anything but immense pity and second-hand regret; Hamlet has yet to take action against any wrongdoing. While he is seen as borderline suicidal, he is heavily questioning who should be the one to decide his fate, what that would mean for the justice of the world

Read More

Similarities Between Hamlet And Laertes

1167 Words | 5 Pages

Death is a terrible part of life that everyone has to go through. It is part of being a human to grieve the ones we love and want to do whatever it takes to get closure. The book Hamlet King of Denmark by William Shakespeare was written in 1599 and is a tragedy about a prince named Hamlet whose father dies at the hands of his uncle. He is tasked to kill his uncle who is now married to his mother. He is dealing with his inner demons while dealing with love and friendship.

Read More

Personification In Hamlet

748 Words | 3 Pages

By personifying death in this way, Shakespeare shows that Hamlet views it as a release from the pains of living. However, Hamlet also acknowledges the ambiguity of death when he says, “for in that sleep of death what dreams may come. When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, it must give us pause” (lines 16-18). This shows that even though Hamlet longs for the peaceful release that death offers, he is also aware that death could bring further

Read More

Hamlet Mental Illness

1533 Words | 7 Pages

Death is one of the most prominent themes in Hamlet, appearing in different forms. Shakespeare displays death through the suicide of Ophelia, Hamlet’s own thoughts and eventual suicide, and the murder of King Hamlet and Polonius. Hamlet displays suicidal tendencies throughout the play through his soliloquies. The first time that Hamlet contemplates committing suicide is when Gertrude and Claudius tell him that he has to stay in Denmark in Act one. “Oh, 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!

Read More

Hamlet Mortality Essay

924 Words | 4 Pages

Mortality plays a huge role in the play of Hamlet, they are introduced from the very beginning. After his father’s death, Hamlet cannot stop thinking and wondering about the meaning of life, and it’s ending. The entire play is steeped in the question of what happens after you die. Hamlet at one point even refuses to kill Claudius while he had the chance because Claudius was praying at the time, and Hamlet thought that if Claudius dies whilst praying he would go directly to heaven, “When he is fit and seasoned for his passage? No.

Read More

Hamlet Fear Of Death Analysis

1001 Words | 5 Pages

Fearing death and all that comes with it can cause major problems to a person, groups of people, or to a society. Sometimes the person fears what comes after death more than death itself. Death causes great anxiety to several characters in Hamlet. One such character is Hamlet himself. In Act three scene one, Hamlet questions whether he should continue living or if death would be better with the lines, “To be or not to be…”.

Read More

Hamlet Disease And Decay Essay

512 Words | 3 Pages

Disease and decay are strong images used by the characters. Denmark 's failing state is described as a poisoned, corrupted, and diseased under Claudius ' rule. This comparison is important because it is as if the poison Claudius put into King Hamlet 's ear is making its way through the kingdom. Hamlet is so obsessed with death and decay that he finds comfort in these dark aspects of his life as he has the upmost respect for his deceased father, only professes his love for Ophelia once she dies, and handles Yorick 's skull with gentle care.

Read More

Ignorance Of Death In Hamlet Essay

1232 Words | 5 Pages

The Ignorance of Death in Hamlet The abstractness of death creates infinite interpretations. Because of this, many lines of reality can occur; all caused by a seemingly insignificant action or choice. To control the world in which one lives, one needs an understanding of death and its most prevalent aspects in a situation. Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, showcases death in the form of the physical self and the conscious self. However, Hamlet is unable to understand this concept, thus triggering an unstoppable thread of death throughout the play.

Read More

Death In Hamlet Research Paper

1537 Words | 7 Pages

Death is something that is majorly overlooked within Shakespeare plays. In Hamlet we see how Hamlet, Claudius, Polonius, Ophelia, and Laertes experience death as an active impassive result. In Hamlet, every character has a different vantage point on how they expect the outcome of each character's life may be. But, what they don't realize is that the person they are trying to get revenge for also has a plan. By not realizing that their thoughts and actions have consequences, we see how death can affect each character as an active impassive result.

Read More

Mortality In Hamlet

1409 Words | 6 Pages

He says he does not seem obsessed with death, but that he is completely grief-stricken. He tells his mother that she cannot understand how deep his thoughts go (1.2.76-86). This statement shows that Hamlet is not only concerned with his father’s death, but death in general is weighing heavily on Hamlet’s

Read More

More about Hamlet Mortality Essay

Related Topics

Open Document