Suicide In The Tragedy Of Hamlet: Relief Or Chaos

Priscila Velis

English 12

3/27/2023

Ms.Gregory Suicide : Relief or Chaos

Suicide is when someone is willing to end their own life, believing their suffering will end. In the Tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the idea of suicide is experienced and viewed differently by the characters in the play. While some refuse to do the act of suicide because of religious reasons, some find the act as a way of peace and relievement. In the Tragedy of Hamlet, the theme of suicide is portrayed within Ophelia’s madness and Hamlet’s own religious conflict.

Ophelia and Hamlet both had considered suicide in response to major events they were presented with in their lives, but in the end they go around the topic in different ways. After the

When left alone, Hamlet talks about how the “sleep of death” is enough to “give us pause [and] makes the calamity of so long life” (3.1.67-70). Hamlet does believe that one can be temporarily relieved from the suffering of life, but in return they’ll never know what the afterlife may look like. Hamlet believes that people only stay alive, rather than killing themselves, because they don't know what the other side will look like. Hamlet goes on to reject the idea of suicide and comes to term that if he kills himself, he is afraid of what God’s punishment will be if he acts on the

In Act III Scene I, Hamlet approaches Ophelia and proceeds to confuse her with mixed messages. Hamlet goes to say “I did love you once”(3.1.116) and then later on contradicts this statement by saying “I loved you not” (3.1.120). Opehlia now feels like “the most deject and wretched” (3.1. 156) as she hears daggers from Hamlet. This was the start of Ophelia's madness. With Hamlet's emotional abuse of Ophelia, he shows no regard to how she’ll react to his words. Hamlet toyed with Ophelia’s emotion and pushed their relationship apart. Ophelia states how she was able to taste the sweetness of love, but at the same time hears his rejection as bells ringing in her ears. Just like Hamlet, the death of Ophelia's father, who she deeply loved and cared for, drove her insane. During Act IV Scene V, Horatio describes Ophelia as “importunate [and] indeed distract” (4.5. 1-2), as “she speaks much of her father [and] speaks things in doubt that carry but half sense” (4.5.4, 7). Due to her madness she now is lacking mental coherence and clarity. After the death