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    Hamlet Essay - Hamlet's Obsession With Death - GradeSaver

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    In the play Hamlet, the main character Hamlet is obsessed with death. This obsession stems from his father's death and fuels both his desire for revenge against his uncle Claudius, as well as his need for certainty about the truth. Throughout the play, Hamlet's thoughts are continually haunted by death, as he struggles with questions of the afterlife, justice, and forgiveness. By the end, Hamlet comes to understand the universal certainty of death.

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    Hamlet Essay - Hamlet's Obsession With Death - GradeSaver

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    arya
    23 views2 pages
    In the play Hamlet, the main character Hamlet is obsessed with death. This obsession stems from his father's death and fuels both his desire for revenge against his uncle Claudius, as well as his need for certainty about the truth. Throughout the play, Hamlet's thoughts are continually haunted by death, as he struggles with questions of the afterlife, justice, and forgiveness. By the end, Hamlet comes to understand the universal certainty of death.

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    Hamlet Essay _ Hamlet’s Obsession With Death _ GradeSaver

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    In the play Hamlet, the main character Hamlet is obsessed with death. This obsession stems from his father's death and fuels both his desire for revenge against his uncle Claudius, as well as his need for certainty about the truth. Throughout the play, Hamlet's thoughts are continually haunted by death, as he struggles with questions of the afterlife, justice, and forgiveness. By the end, Hamlet comes to understand the universal certainty of death.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    23 views2 pages

    Hamlet Essay - Hamlet's Obsession With Death - GradeSaver

    Uploaded by

    arya
    In the play Hamlet, the main character Hamlet is obsessed with death. This obsession stems from his father's death and fuels both his desire for revenge against his uncle Claudius, as well as his need for certainty about the truth. Throughout the play, Hamlet's thoughts are continually haunted by death, as he struggles with questions of the afterlife, justice, and forgiveness. By the end, Hamlet comes to understand the universal certainty of death.

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    2/6/24, 8:02 PM Hamlet Essay | Hamlet’s Obsession With Death | GradeSaver

    Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. More books than SparkNotes.
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    Hamlet

    Hamlet's Obsession With Death Marie Moulin


    In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the author presents the main character of Hamlet as a man who is
    obsessed with death. Shakespeare uses this obsession to explore both Hamlet's desire for revenge and his need for
    certainty. In the process, Shakespeare leads Hamlet, and the audience, to reflect on such basic principles as justice
    and truth. To obsess means to "preoccupy, haunt, or to fill the mind continually". This play offers many examples of
    Hamlet's obsessive behavior, as thoughts of death are never far from his mind. Hamlet is haunted by his father's
    death, and his preoccupation with it is a thread that runs through the entire play and appears in every act. In act 1,
    Hamlet encounters the ghost of his father, and their conversation both raises all kinds of unthinkable questions
    (unnatural death, murder by a brother, unfaithful mother, etc.) and triggers Hamlet's obsession. He feels compelled to
    know the surety of the ghost's statements so that he can determine how he must act. The use of a ghost to convey
    information also raises an initial question of certainty. Is the ghost real'or merely a reflection of Hamlet's own
    thoughts' Act 2 begins with Hamlet pretending to be insane, a deception he uses to confuse the others as he plans
    his revenge. Death enters again with the accidental killing of Polonius and with Hamlet's apparent disrespect for the
    dead as he taunts the King about the location of the body.
    Act 3 presents Hamlet's famous soliloquy on p. 73. Through the use of introspection, Shakespeare takes us into the
    character's deepest thoughts as Hamlet questions the unbearable pain of life and views death through the gentle
    metaphor of sleep. "To be or not to be: that is the question: whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and
    arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them. To die, to
    sleep'no more." This speech also brings up new thoughts about what happens in that unknown realm of death.
    Hamlet contemplates suicide, but his lack knowledge about what awaits him in the afterworld causes him to question
    what death will bring. "The undiscovered country, from whose bourn' no traveler returns, puzzles the will, and makes
    us rather bear those ills we have, than fly to others that we know not of". This passage also reveals Hamlet's growing
    concern with "Truth" and his need for certainty. Death appears again in act 4 with the suicide of Ophilia, the demand
    for Hamlet's execution, and the scene with the grave diggers. All of these situations Shakespeare presents tie back
    with how death is all around Hamlet and feeds his obsession. Finally in act 5, Hamlet meets his own death, as his
    obsession to know leads him to a certain end.
    Hamlet's obsession with death also fuels his desire for revenge, as is shown on p. 40 when Hamlet revisits the ghost.
    Hamlet talks to the ghost, who explains how he died. Hamlet realizes that Claudius, his uncle and the present King,
    was the one who killed his father. "O my prophetic soul! My uncle'" The ghost demands that Hamlet revenge his
    father's death and the traitorous acts of the murderer. "But howsomever thou pursues this act, taint not thy mind, nor
    let thy soul contrive against thy mother aught." According to this line, the ghost already has an idea in his own mind
    about his revenge, and is giving Hamlet an order to follow through with it. Hamlet hides his desire for revenge.
    "There's never a villain Dwelling in all Denmark but he's an arrant knave." The footnotes explain this as "Hamlet
    suddenly changes his mind about confiding in his friends and utters this mocking tautology instead." However,
    finding out that his friends had heard the whole conversation between the ghost and Hamlet, Hamlet makes them
    swear not to say a thing. He also intentionally pretends to be mad/insane. On pp. 69-70, at end of act 2 scene 2, he
    uses his "insanity" as an excuse to kill Claudius. Nevertheless, Polonius notes (p. 57, line 216) "[aside] though this be
    madness, yet there is method in't. Will you walk out of the air, my lord'", thereby doubting Hamlet's motives and
    implying that perhaps Hamlet may have a hidden reason for acting mad. Hamlet's feigned madness also allows him to

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    2/6/24, 8:02 PM Hamlet Essay | Hamlet’s Obsession With Death | GradeSaver

    avoid truth in his pursuit of revenge. Although Hamlet overtly wants the certainty of truth, his behavior is actually
    contradictory. By avoiding a confrontation with Claudius and accusing him directly of wrongdoing, Hamlet also avoids
    the possibility of truly knowing what happened.
    In general, however, Hamlet is a man who needs to be in control of his actions and assured of the outcomes. Hamlet
    does not act rashly, but continuously delays his actions while he tries to obtain more accurate knowledge about what
    he should do. From Act 1 through Act 4, Hamlet carefully thinks through every detail. Finally he comes to the
    realization that revenge is not always the best solution. He then moves beyond his earlier need to settle the score and
    asks for forgiveness from Leartes. Hamlet's need to know is highlighted in his interaction with the ghost, but treated
    in an unusual way. The ghost brings to the forefront the themes of truth and ethical behavior, but also serves as a
    dramatic foil, or contrast, to Hamlet's need for certainty. The ghost represents death, but that is one thing Hamlet
    cannot be certain of, because he has not yet experienced it. Even more, he cannot tell whether the ghost is truly his
    father's spirit or whether it is an evil being who wants to lead him toward destruction as when he says, "O all you host
    of heaven! O earth! What else' And shall I couple hell' O fie!" (p. 42, line 96)
    As Hamlet moves from revenge to forgiveness he realizes lessons about justice and truth. On p. 135 line 190, Hamlet
    says "To what base uses we may return. Horatio! Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander till 'a
    find is stopping a bunghole'" Hamlet has just seen Yorick's skull, a direct encounter with the "face" of death. The skull
    makes him realize that everyone will die, even the great Alexander. No matter what a person's noble status is, in the
    end everyone meets the same end as mingled dust scattered upon the earth. There is no superiority or inferiority of
    status in death. Another lesson is found on p. 42, when the ghost commands Hamlet to take revenge on Claudius but
    not to harm his mother Gertrude, the queen. "Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive against thy mother aught.
    Leave her to heaven and to those thorns that in her bosom lodge to prick and sting her." With this statement, the
    ghost implies that she will get her just punishment both in heaven and in having to live with her heavy conscience in
    this life.
    Hamlet also learns about justice through the lesson of forgiveness. Because he realizes that everyone is physically the
    same in death and that people will get their just punishments, he is able to move from obsession to understanding
    and forgiveness. Hamlet also learns that outcomes may vary since other people may not share the same thoughts
    about whether or not to forgive. The ghost of Hamlet's father forgives Gertrude, because he knows she will be judged
    elsewhere; Leartes cannot forgive Hamlet because he has not come to this realization. However each of these
    situations brings Hamlet to understand more about human nature. Hamlet realizes that people are ultimately held
    responsible for their actions, whether through punishment and a heavy conscience in this life or in the uncertain
    world of the afterlife. Despite all of his desire for certainty, Hamlet slowly comes to realize that very notion of
    "certainty" is, in fact, questionable. Through confronting his anger and his personal need for revenge, Hamlet finally
    understands that the only thing that is certain'the only thing that is true'is death itself.

    How To Cite https://www.gradesaver.com/hamlet/essays/hamlets-obsession-


    with-death in MLA Format
    Moulin, Marie. "Hamlet's Obsession With Death". GradeSaver, 22 July 2002 Web. 6 February 2024.

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