Death In Hamlet Research Paper

Death Throughout the five acts of Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare, a reader experiences the death of nine main characters. From suicide to murder this book seems to cover it all. The plot is set off when King Hamlet is murdered, which in turn causes a chain of events, resulting in the death of all but one lead role. It is safe to say Death is the ultimate theme of the entire novel. Shakespeare though, presents death three different ways, death that was not needed, death by circumstances, and the reality that life is fragile.
The losses of characters who do not yet deserve to die are the most tragic of all. ¨Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die. Passing through nature to eternity¨ (Shakespeare 1.2.72). King Hamlet, Queen Gertrude, Polonius, and Ophelia were all characters that had long lives ahead of them, but were taken prematurely. Hamlet was murdered by his own brother, Claudius. Queen Gertrude accidently drinks poisoned wine intended for her son. Polonius was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and was stabbed while he hid behind the curtain. Finally, poor
Ophelia drowned in a nearby river, the cause was likely suicide. Shakespeare wanted to show all kinds of death in Hamlet. He likely used the death of likable and innocent characters like these to show that all people, good or bad, are susceptible to death.
Death by circumstances, or consequences of prior actions, was the most stressed and obvious form of death in Hamlet.
Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, King Claudius, and Laertes were all killed in a twisted rage of revenge. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern turned on Hamlet, who was once a friend. Hamlet switched death orders written by the King and replaced his name with theirs. King Claudius, who is arguably the most unlikable character in the book, is killed by Hamlet who both stabs and poisons Claudius to revenge his father. Laertes and Hamlet are both young men trying to do what is right and avenge the death of their fathers. When they have a sword fight things go wrong and both characters become poisoned and later die. Each and everyone of these characters is killed because they became so consumed in their own revenge that they gave others a reason to take revenge of their
own.
In the opening scene of act five, Hamlet finds himself in a graveyard. As Hamlet begins to talk with a gravedigger, who is prepping for a burial, he comes across a skull that the gravedigger identifies as Yurik, one of Hamlet's caretakers as a child. Hamlet cannot believe that a man who was once so full of life, and jokes, and laughter, can now just be a skull, lifeless and decomposed in the dirt. ¨To die:—to sleep: No more; and, by a sleep to say we end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks¨ (Shakespeare 3.1.60). Though the above quote is not from the same graveyard scene, it shows a realization that death is death, that we are all mortal, and the reality that when it is over, it is over.
G. Wilson Knight, a respected literary critic, writes in his review of Hamlet, "Death is over the whole play. Polonius and Ophelia die during the action, and Ophelia is buried before our eyes. Hamlet arranges the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The plot is set in motion by the murder of Hamlet's father, and the play opens with the apparition of the Ghost." All of that and he left out the massacre of the closing scene. This play is completely death obsessed, but what should be respected is the pure genius, and literary excellence that is shown from shakespeare to not only present a theme of death, but to show death in a variety of forms.