The Theme Of Suicide In Shakespeare's Hamlet

Hamlet and Thoughts About Suicide

In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet the topic of death is a pervasive thread throughout the play. From the opening acts dealing with King Hamlet’s ghost through to the lethal finale, death is central to the narrative. One aspect of death that is of importance to the play, and to the character of Hamlet is the notion of suicide. From both an intellectual rumination of the concept, to a practical understanding (the fate of Ophelia) the play explores the myriad ways the idea of suicide is considered. Examined with consideration of the religious viewpoint of the prevalent dogma of the time, the philosophical morality, and Hamlet’s personal ideology presented in his soliloquies, the nature of suicide is explored.
The time Shakespeare’s Hamlet is set against, Denmark is rooted in the catholic faith holding strong to their beliefs in regards to suicide. A major insight into the melancholic Hamlet occurs when he comments that: O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, 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
Seems to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on ‘t, ah fie! (Hamlet, I .2, 133-139)
He is, in his depression over his father’s death, and mothers remarrying his uncle expressing a desire to escape the dreary world and let his body return to nature if only God had not outlawed suicide. His concern over the treatment a suicide would receive is later confirmed when the priest attending to Ophelia burial espouses: As we have warranties: her death was doubtful,
And, but that great command o’ersways the order,
She should in ground unsanctified have lodged
Till the last trumpet. (Hamlet, V .1, 233-237)
It was the priest’s belief that Ophelia’s death was a suicide and that only due to a royal association the full disgrace was spared her. The harsh stigma attached to a suicide to condemn, bury in unconsecrated ground for eternity, all unforgiving and damning of the soul was a strong influence in restraining Hamlet from self
slaughter.

As the play progresses Hamlets thoughts on suicide evolve and are approached with less a religious stance and more a morally philosophical view. Hamlet laments “To be or not to be – that is the question” (Hamlet, III .1, 64), accepting that there are arguments --outside the strict religious commandments-- to consider when regarding ones state of life. He goes on to ask: 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-and by a sleep to say we end The heartache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to- (Hamlet, III .1, 65-71)
He argues that there may be a moral equality in accepting the pain of life and enduring or to ending the suffering of the flesh to alleviate the troubles of life.

The one true act of suicide in the play, of Ophelia letting her self drowned has an aesthetic quality in its description. Queen Gertrude’s tale to Laertes of Ophelia’s final moments were There on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds Clamb’ring to hang, an envious sliver broke, When down her weedy trophies and herself Fell in the weeping brook.
Her clothes spread wide, And mermaid-like awhile they bore her up, Which time she chanted snatches of old lauds, As one incapable of her own distress (Hamlet, IV .7, 197-203)
The imagery the Queen provokes is of a serene Ophelia, dress flowering out, wistfully singing all unawares to her situation.

It is Hamlet’s contentions that while all humans are capable of suicide; most choose to live on with the pain and suffering of life. While he first attributed his own reluctance of the act of suicide to the sin inherent in its consummation, he later bares his soul to his true belief. He assures that when contemplating the self ending of a life one may: Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep – To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. (Hamlet, III .1, 72-76)
It is this uncertainty that gainsays most people from the act of suicide. He further expounds on this point by adding Who would fardels bear, To grunt and sweat under a weary life, But that the dread of something after death, 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? Thus conscience does make cowards (of us all,) (Hamlet, III .1, 84-91)
Clarifying that people will opt to accept the pains and burdens of what is known and familiar to that of the unknowable.

Hamlet, while largely a tale of revenge and the tragedy it often entails; the thread of suicide can not be overlooked. Ultimately it is Hamlet’s drive for vengeance against his uncle for the murder of his father that led to his death. His progression from a melancholic prince worried about the sin of suicide, to the morally questioning conspirator, to finally the regicide knowing the penalty involved. By the definition of the word suicide which is the act of intentionally causing one's own death, Hamlet’s choices and deliberate actions meet the requirements.