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Societal Pressure In Hamlet

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People are under immense societal pressures when making decisions; friends, coworkers, and family members input their opinions on what they believe is best. This external force exerts pressure on them to conform to their ideas. In addition to others imposing their opinions, people can impact others through tragic events such as a death in the family. These can test their core values and cause them to re-evaluate their ideologies. In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Hamlet’s father dies and his mother, Gertrude, remarries soon after the death. Hamlet is initially bothered not only by the death of his father, but by his mother’s quick remarriage, because he felt as though Gertrude did not fully pay her respects and honor his death. However, after meeting and speaking with the ghost of his father, he learns the terrible truth. Hamlet’s father was killed at the hands of Claudius, his uncle and now stepfather, with the intent to obtain the throne. In a plea for vengeance, Hamlet’s father tries to convince him to kill Claudius. Claudius, on the other hand, presses Hamlet from the opposite side to fulfil his own visions for him. In Hamlet, society, as exemplified by his father and Claudius, causes Hamlet much distress as he’s torn between two versions of who he could be. This leads him to explore the act of suicide as an option to escape the new realities of his problematic existence. Ultimately, Hamlet’s realization and acceptance that it is impossible to meet society’s expectations

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