Each year 35,000 people commit suicide. According to the Huffington Post and World Health Organization, by the year 2030, depression, but specifically suicide, will have outpaced cancer, stroke, war, and accidents. That number only describes the ones who actually accomplish suicide. In the United States alone surveys suggest an estimated one million people attempt to kill themselves, with females attempting three times more than men. Now these are some intensely high numbers, so instead of looking at the bigger picture – Let’s narrow it down. Down to one person in particular. Hamlet. Hamlet is a play written by William Shakespeare and something almost every person who has gone through a high school career has read, and maybe even watched in …show more content…
The first one we are going to go over is his speech that was in Act One, Scene two. He starts off saying that he wishes his body to disintegrate into thin air and wishes there wasn’t a law his God has made against suicide. He goes on explaining how life is pointless to him and it eventually turns into his view on how quickly his mother moved on from his now murdered and dead father. This is especially true when he states that his father has been “But two months dead—nay, not so much, not two” (1.2.139). The death of his father is the clear key factor that makes him start this questioning of death and the beginning of his hatred for the world around him. He begins to wonder and say things like “How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable” life is to him (1.2.133-134). He even claimed that within him, nothing good comes anymore. This soliloquy he spoke was most likely what started this trend of suicidal thoughts – and it only deepened from there. This speech shows how it started – the death of a parent, a King no less, would affect anyone, and for the situation to worsen. Hamlet’s mother didn’t seem to bat an eye when it came to remarrying Hamlet’s uncle, likely to keep her title as Queen. In my opinion, this marks the beginning of Hamlet’s rapid spiral down into the darker depths of
When your back is against a wall and it seems that all hope is lost, do not give up. Because if you choose suicide, you will never live to see it get worse, however, you also pass up the chance to see life get better. Suicide is an important, recurring theme in William Shakespeare's, Hamlet, and it is a topic that Hamlet contemplates quite often throughout the play. Hamlet often goes back and forth between to be or not to be, but continues to believe that people although capable of suicide, choose to live. Hamlet is adamant that the unknown, the inconclusiveness of nobility, along with the sin attached to suicide is what ultimately keeps people from taking their own lives.
Psychological Condition Essay Many great works of literature revolve around characters who possess some type of mental sickness. It helps to keep the story interesting and forces you to look deeper into the character’s minds to find out what they are really thinking. In “Hamlet”, the Shakespeare play, the Prince Hamlet himself is observed to be quite messed up in the head, although nothing is actually confirmed. In contrast, Holden Caulfield from, “The Catcher in the Rye”, shares the entirety of his story from the bed of what is believed to be a mental hospital. After psychoanalyzing these characters as they go about their respective stories, it is clear that their psychological states are very similar, particularly when it comes to suicide and depression.
"To be or not to be, that is the question". This is probably one of the most famous soliloquies. You could say that Hamlet sounds like a broken record with the whole suicide thing. However, he just might be moving on here. After all, instead of obsessing about whether or not to kill himself, he is exploring the reason why people in general don't commit suicide. When it comes down to it, he is talking about you, us and everyone else out there. Life is worth because we are experience every single moment. And there are some special moment that define who we are.
Hamlet’s delusion begins directly after he learns of his father’s death. Immediately, he longs to avenge the death of his beloved father, the former King Hamlet; as he tries to piece together how this tragedy occurred, and why his mother marries his uncle, he becomes entangled in his own curiosities. He feels as though he should approach his mother, and question her; try to bring her into reality, and make her become aware of the wrong she is doing. In the first scene, after the wedding of Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother, and Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, he falls into deep self pity. He is unable to speak to anyone else about his true feelings, so he reveals that his too, “...too sullied flesh would melt,/ Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,/ Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd/ His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O God, God…”(I.II.133-136). Hamlet reveals his suicidal thoughts to the audience, and
At the beginning of the play, Hamlet comes home from college to find out that his father has passed and that his mother has remarried and that it is to his uncle. Hamlet doesn’t know what to think. Hamlet mourned the death of his father, “Oh, that is 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! O God, God! How weary stale,flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!” ( act 1, scene 2,, lines 129-133, 26) Hamlet has wished to die after the death of his father. He talked about how he wanted his flesh to melt off his body. Talking about dying and how you want to die show signs of madness. They show that that was the start of Hamlet’s true madness,along with the death of his father, Hamlet also became aware that his
Hamlet is very distraught and grief stricken for the death of his father, the King of Denmark. As well, he is upset with his mother's quick marriage to his uncle Claudius, who is now King. Hamlet is emotional and melancholy, and he considers suicide because he wonders
In the play, Hamlet, Shakespeare leaves you wondering about death. Through the characters in the play, he reveals his own thoughts about death. Does Shakespeare portray a deep understanding of death in this play? The never-ending cycle of death and revenge is evident throughout the entire play.
In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, suicide is an important and continuous theme throughout the play. Hamlet is the main character who contemplates the thought of suicide many different times throughout the play, since the murder of his father. Hamlet weighs the advantages of leaving his miserable life with the living, for possibly a better but unknown life with the dead. Hamlet seriously contemplates suicide, but decides against it, mainly because it is a mortal sin against God. Hamlet continues to say that most of humanity would commit suicide and escape the hardships of life, but do not because they are unsure of what awaits them in the after life. Hamlet throughout the play is continually tormented by his fathers death and his
Based on the play of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, suicide is the most prevalent and important themes in Hamlet. Hamlet always asks himself for the reason to stay alive. Even though he always thinks that there is no reason for him to stay alive, however he always chooses to stay. The first reason Hamlet seems to contemplate suicide is because his life is contaminated by sins and revenge. The other reason he is thinking about suicide is because he is young and immature. Young adults usually look for escapes when they become angry with things. There are many instances where Hamlet contemplating suicide and he treats the idea of suicide morally, religiously, and aesthetically, with particular attention to Hamlet’s two important statements about suicide: the “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt” soliloquy (I.ii.129–158) and the “To be, or not to be” soliloquy (III.i.56–88).
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, suicide is treated differently on the aspects of religion, morals, and philosophical views. Suicide is the act of deliberately killing yourself in contrary to your own best interests. In today’s society suicide is highly looked down upon. But Shakespeare used suicide and violence in almost all of his most popular plays. Many of his tragedies used the element of suicide, some accomplished, others merely contemplated. Shakespeare used suicide as a dramatic device. A character’s suicide could promote a wide range of emotions: horror, condemnation to pity, and even respect. Some of his suicides could even take titles like the noble soldier, the violated woman, and star-crossed lovers. In Othello, Othello see suicide as
Hamlet continuously throughout the play not only self-deprecates himself, but he also talks about committing suicide and the reasons he has for and against it. Hamlet self-deprecates for multiple reasons consisting of: Claudius killing his father, Gertrude marrying her husband’s brother after his death, his complications with Ophelia, and his very own insanity. From Hamlet’s self-deprecating tendencies, it is evident that he is not only depressed, but suicidal. Hamlet has many things going on in his life, and to him, he doesn’t know if his life is even worth living. Hamlet states, “To be or not to be? That is the question…Be all sins remembered.” (3.1.57-91), meaning that Hamlet really couldn’t care less what happens anymore. Hamlet summarizes the pros and cons to suicide, and he questions what he should do. He does this because he has changed – primarily his personality – and the events occurring around him are
Hamlet, although he is a rather irresolute and indecisive character when Shakespeare wrote the “To be or not to be…” speech, Hamlet not only contemplates whether or not to commit suicide but for once in the play he answers and resolves his own problems. Hamlet
The way that Shakespeare portrayed Hamlet’s soliloquy touches on a global issue of suicide. While Hamlet considers his suicidal thoughts it reveals inklings about his character. Hamlet’s soliloquy advances the tone of the play because of
The death of King Hamlet effected many individuals lives to the point where great changes were made. Especially in regards to his son, Hamlet, who took the death – murder- of his father personally in both mental and emotional ways. By doing so, Hamlet portrays and experiences the death and loss of his father by acting out in manners in which magnify his isolation and alienated actions. These would include excluding and distancing himself, turning on those closest, and taking on measures one would never do so when thinking rationally or clearly.
Hamlet is mourning over the death of his father, he is in a depressed mood. He is mad at his mother Gertrude for marrying his uncle Claudius.