The Pessimistic View Of Humanity In Hamlet By William Shakespeare

In normal sleep, dawn will come in the morning. The decision to wake up or sleep on belongs to the sleeper or any outside forces. In Hamlet, a play by William Shakespeare, young Hamlet struggles with indecision and morality after he finds out the circumstances behind his father’s death. As a result, he begins to question life and the human mind itself. Hamlet’s “To Be or Not To Be” Soliloquy divulges Shakespeare’s pessimistic perspective of humanity, revealing through a simple question, argument, and conclusion how the fear of death keeps mankind from falling into permanent sleep. First, Hamlet introduces the problem that humanity faces. “To be, or not to be? That is the question (III. i. 57).” Simply put - Life or Death? In this statement, Hamlet contemplates suicide. Before this moment, he had already been faced with multiple life-changing facts. He had come home from college to find his Uncle Claudius married to his own mother. Because of this, his uncle becomes King of Denmark, a position that should have been Hamlet’s. Shortly thereafter, the ghost of Hamlet’s dead father reveals that Claudius murdered him. All of this translates to Hamlet’s frustration, anger, helplessness, confusion and moral conflictions. In his one question, he
“Who would fardels bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death (III. i. 77-79).” People fear the unknown and fear entices them to endure a long and painful life. “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, and thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought (III. i. 84-86).” Hamlet spends the entirety of the play battling his indecisiveness. He misses opportunities to kill his Uncle or kill himself. In this line, he implies that resolutely dying exhibits boldness, and the fear of death cripples boldness. And since all humans only live because they fear death, then all humans are