Hamlet essay
5 December 2013
The Fear of Death is what prompts us to action.
Hamlet Ready to die in an effort to escape what he is feeling after his father dies but cannot, as it is ungodly.
“Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon against self-slaughter! O God, God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable, Seem to me all the uses of this world!” (I.ii)
This is Hamlets first soliloquy and our first look into Hamlet as a character and we are immediately introduced to him as someone contemplating death and the value of his life. This is where we first see him as somebody looking to death as an escape from the pressures of his now seemingly dismayed life. He is in the strange position of both wishing for death and fearing what it will do to his soul. This dilemma prompts him to be more determined to find the culprit in his father’s death because he feels this will put his soul at peace. Hamlet is also mourning the death of his late father and is so grieved by his father 's death that he wishes to die. Hamlet feels as if he is a defiled human being; ("O, that this too, too sullied flesh") and he hopes that if he died he would become something less significant like dew, which will easily be absorbed by the ground. However, Hamlet knows that he cannot commit suicide because in the eyes of” the Everlasting” it is a sin; killing himself would make him even more defiled and block his entrance into heaven. This also helps to give us a first look at Hamlet’s morals. Moral dilemma as stated before is whether he should act on his feelings. He also is fearful of consequences that proceed his actions, actions he must take to put his soul at ease.
Outside Commentary
The critic has made many points in his essay, which I support and believe to be the correct interpretation of what Shakespeare was trying to put forth with the play hamlet. He states in his writing that it is Hamlets
The Fear of Death is what prompts us to action.
Hamlet Ready to die in an effort to escape what he is feeling after his father dies but cannot, as it is ungodly.
“Oh, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon against self-slaughter! O God, God! How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable, Seem to me all the uses of this world!” (I.ii)
This is Hamlets first soliloquy and our first look into Hamlet as a character and we are immediately introduced to him as someone contemplating death and the value of his life. This is where we first see him as somebody looking to death as an escape from the pressures of his now seemingly dismayed life. He is in the strange position of both wishing for death and fearing what it will do to his soul. This dilemma prompts him to be more determined to find the culprit in his father’s death because he feels this will put his soul at peace. Hamlet is also mourning the death of his late father and is so grieved by his father 's death that he wishes to die. Hamlet feels as if he is a defiled human being; ("O, that this too, too sullied flesh") and he hopes that if he died he would become something less significant like dew, which will easily be absorbed by the ground. However, Hamlet knows that he cannot commit suicide because in the eyes of” the Everlasting” it is a sin; killing himself would make him even more defiled and block his entrance into heaven. This also helps to give us a first look at Hamlet’s morals. Moral dilemma as stated before is whether he should act on his feelings. He also is fearful of consequences that proceed his actions, actions he must take to put his soul at ease.
Outside Commentary
The critic has made many points in his essay, which I support and believe to be the correct interpretation of what Shakespeare was trying to put forth with the play hamlet. He states in his writing that it is Hamlets
Cited: Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th ed. New York: MLA, 2003. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet, 1603 "Hamlet 's Obsession with Death" StudyMode.com. 03 2004. . (Out side commentary)