How Does Shakespeare Present The Theme Of Suicide In Hamlet

To more fully appreciate the famous Shakespearean play Hamlet, it must first be broken down to make clear the genius behind it. Hamlet is regarded by most as one of the world's finest pieces of literature, and for good reason. Overall, the play is about a young man named Hamlet whose father is murdered by his uncle, who then goes on to marry his mother, the queen of Denmark. The ghost of Hamlet's dead father and former king of Denmark, appears to Hamlet and bestows on him the responsibility of getting revenge. By the end Hamlet does succeed in his mission but with much tribulation and a classic Shakespearean tragic ending. Throughout this piece of art, we as readers can gain so much from the text, most typically however, Shakespeare's tends
As the play progresses, the theme of suicide becomes much stronger. Act I, scene 2 is the first time that the idea of suicide is mentioned in the play however. Hamlet is in a tremendous depression at this point in the play. Not only has his father died, but his mother has also married his uncle! Hamlet sees this matrimony as not only disrespectful to his recently deceased father but also as incestuous! Furthermore, Hamlet is not only disappointed in his mother, but he also hates his new “stepfather”, Claudius. After an very dis-encouraging talk with his mother and Claudius, during which Claudius continues to insult him by calling him weak and so on, Hamlet tells the audience, in a soliloquy, just how bad he feels. “Oh that this too too solid flesh would melt, thw 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 I, Scene 2, Lines 131-136) Basically, Hamlet is in such a bad place that the things of the world no longer hold any joy for him and, if God hadn’t forbidden it, he would take his own life to escape this torment of living with his mother and
Hamlet's attitude changes greatly from act I to act II, although that is not clear to his mother or Claudius. He now has the responsibility and duty of getting revenge for his father murder, by killing Claudius. By questioning the origin of his father's apparition, if it’s from Heaven or Hell, he feels guilty. Guilty of the fact that he has this duty of revenge that he hasn’t taken any action towards yet, guilty because he loves his father and wants to please him, and guilty because he’s not sure if he can do it. At this point in the play, actors have just come and Hamlet had asked on to recite some specific lines. After the actor's short performance, once everyone has left, Hamlet expresses his thoughts in another soliloquy, saying, “What would he do had he the motive and the cue for passion that I have? He would drown the stage with tears, and cleave the general ear with horrid speech, make mad the guilty and appal the free, confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed the very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I, a dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak like John-a-dreams, unpregnant for my cause, and can say nothing.” (Act II, Scene 2, Lines 547-557) He feels guilty because an actor who has no real feelings for Hecuba can weep for her and be filled with such passion, while he, who has great reason to be filled with passion, can’t seem to become taken away by this