Preview

Why Did Hamlet Lose His Father's Suicide

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
397 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Did Hamlet Lose His Father's Suicide
Unfortunately, Hamlet and Laertes’ both lose their father’s unexpectedly throughout the play. However, both men have opposite responses to the situations. Hamlet learns from the appearing ghost about his father’s murder. He shuts himself down for months and goes into a long period of mourning and weeping. Claudius even tells Hamlet that he’s been mourning this death for so long he’s beginning to question the prince’s masculinity. It was clear Hamlet was suicidal after his father’s death; his inner thoughts attacked him constantly. “O, that this too too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed” (1.2. 129-131). The only thing that stopped Hamlet from suicide, was fear and sin.
His mother

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Initially, Hamlet is plagued with unrestrained thoughts of sadness and disbelief, crying out to the heavens, “Ah, I wish my dirty flesh could melt away into a vapor, or that God has not made a law against suicide…how tired, stale, and pointless life is to me… my heart must break in silence” (Shakespeare 28-29). His ever-changing behavior encompasses major depression disorder, which interferes with one’s daily life and transforms their behavior; furthermore, “depression is a mood disorder characterized by… symptoms including hopelessness, helplessness, personal devaluation… an inability to concentrate or make decisions, exaggerated guilty feelings, and thoughts about suicide” (Kahn 1). As the story progresses Hamlet begins to procrastinate inducing action, creating indecision and…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Theme of hamlet

    • 850 Words
    • 3 Pages

    and Laertes differ, Laertes acts as a stable foil for Hamlet whom makes sound decisions and acts on his words instead of just speaking. Laertes allows us readers to explore how Hamlet should have acted instead of how he did: Inactive, in a state of delay, and full of words. The moment Laertes heard of his father's death he left for Denmark, rallied up some followers, and marched past the King's guards to the Royal Court and demanded an answer. "O thou vile King, give me my father," Laertes bellowed at the King. Claudius relays to Laertes that Hamlet is to blame and once again…

    • 850 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Agamemnon vs Hamlet

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A son is talking about her own mother like this and at the same time he has lost hope in life. Hamlet claims that he wants to die, if only suicide wasn’t forbidden by God.…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Suicide, at this time, was considered a cowardly move, something a Prince or a hero should never consider. We relate to the dark heart, sense of loss, and pain experienced by Hamlet. He is trapped in an unsettled mind with no escape. He is a Prince, but he feels pain like every other man.…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Laertes and Hamlet both lose a father by unnatural and sudden death. The unnatural death of the father is brought on by someone close to the son. When Laertes discovers that his father is dead, he is outraged. When Hamlet learns from the ghost of his father's murder, he weeps, and promises action, though he delivers none. Both Laertes and Hamlet grieve deeply for their fathers, but Laertes acts upon this grief while Hamlet carefully plots his revenge and waits for the perfect moment to avenge King Hamlet. Laertes' unplanned action causes his death by his own sword, while Hamlet's apparent inaction finally gets him the revenge that Laertes has attempted. Though Laertes' grief at his father's death causes his action, Hamlet's grief for his father has more power.…

    • 1091 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hamlet Foil Analysis

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Laertes has high respect and love for his father Polonius, and Hamlet has great respect for his deceased father; he even compares him to a sun god "Hyperion". When their fathers a proclaimed to be dead, Hamlet and Laertes strive to achieve revenge on their murderers. They both exhibit authoritarian attitudes towards females. In the same way that Laertes provides Ophelia with guidance on her relationship to Hamlet, Hamlet himself manages to persuade Gertrude that he is not mad and manipulates her to follow his instructions. He gets his mother to convince Claudius of Hamlet's madness and is also able to make his mother reflect upon and feel guilt for her part in the old king's death: "Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul, and there I see such black and grained spots as will not leave their tinct." (3.4.90-93). Additionally, Hamlet instructs his mother not to sleep with Claudius. Their fathers, or stepfather in Hamlets case, both tried to use spies to obtain information on their sons. Claudius employs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to get information on Hamlet, and Polonius sends Reynaldo to check up on Laertes. Although rivals, Hamlet, and Laertes share several similar characteristics which make them foils of each…

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Outliers

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Is there a significant correlation between success and skill? Nowadays, the path to success seems to be different for each individual, as some people have unfair advantages to help them excel faster. Often times, these advantages stem from circumstances no one even has control over. Through his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell claims that the idea of a self-made man is a logical fallacy as almost all successful people have had a leg up over others. While a small portion of success is due to pure talent, Gladwell’s argument holds true as most super-achievers can attribute their accomplishments to their time of birth, family upbringing, and receiving extra opportunities to perfect their skills.…

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Claudius kills King Hamlet and sends Hamlet into a dark place inside his mind where an obsession with death and possibly avenging his father's suspicious undoing. After his father's death, Hamlet's mother marries Claudius almost immediately. The inappropriately timed union angers Hamlet and his feeling of betrayal causes him to believe that love and compassion are not an important or real part of any human or relationship. His depressive and morbid outlook assures him that death is the only thing that is certain in the world. In his early soliloquies, Hamlet expresses longing for suicide "O that this too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew” (I, II, 130) and often thinks about this…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In life there are various unpleasant and distressing situations that people have to go through, but do not like to face. One of them is death. Death is a fact of life. Regardless of how wonderful, kind-hearted, and modest or extremely horrible a person is, death is inevitable. Being a teenage girl, I know one of the things I do not like to think about is the death of my parents. It is unquestionably difficult to think about how someone can be taken away from this world in just a blink of an eye. In spite of how great one’s love is for another person, it does not stop a person from dying. That being said, one of the most painful facts of life that Hamlet went through was the death of his father. Although the play never truly introduced King Hamlet, it was so clear that the King and Prince had an exceptionally close relationship. Hamlet not only looked at King Hamlet as a fatherly figure, but as a role model and inspiration to those in Denmark. In addition, at the time, Hamlet did not even know how has father had died. There were many questions still waiting to be uncovered, but Prince Hamlet felt as if he had nothing. With his father not around, Hamlet feels as if he does not belong and is depressed for months. He wishes as if he could disappear and that the world is meaningless. “How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!” (1364). Thinking life is featureless; Hamlet would highly consider killing himself if it was not a sin.…

    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hamlet loved his father, King Hamlet, and it was his death that broke young Hamlet's heart. It is the love he had for his father that brought him to his doom. After King Hamlet's death he appeared as a ghost moving through the castle at one o'clock every morning. When the guards and Horatio, Hamlet's best friend, noticed this ghostly figure, Horatio quite intelligently believed that he could get the ghost to speak with Hamlet. The next day the two guards, Horatio, and young Hamlet were present to speak to the ghost of King Hamlet. The ghost told Hamlet that he was murdered by Claudius, his brother, who had been sworn in as the new king and married his wife, Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude. After hearing this, young Hamlet was asked to avenge his father’s death, but in doing so his mother was to remain unharmed. Hamlet, being the loving and devoted son he was, and unable to accept Claudius as the leader to replace his father, accepted King Hamlet’s request. After this encounter, young Hamlet refused to tell the guardsman and Horatio what happened but made it known that he would act like a…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ghost In Hamlet

    • 1324 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Hamlet was considered to be wallowing in self-pity over everything that had recently transpired. His father’s death, his mother’s marriage to his uncle as well as he had been stripped of his rightful place as King of Denmark. Hamlet was of high morals and religious background. He was raised within the Lutheran Christian Faith and was appalled by everyone’s behavior. Resentment now raised its ugly head towards his mother in her “incestuous” union when Hamlet during his soliloquy, proclaims “Frailty, thy name is Woman!” to reflect his disgust of her weakness. But due to the love for his mother Hamlet keeps his resentment and disappointment to himself at this time. Faced with the realization of the murder of his father, who he had idolized and compared to a Greek sun-god and whose ghost has demanded revenge in order to leave purgatory, Hamlet is further torn between his moral values and his Christian faith, as his faith does not allow murder (“Thou shall not…

    • 1324 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, there are many allusions to greek mythology that lend to a deeper understanding of the characters in the play. Hamlet’s thoughts about his father, mother, and himself are made clear through his references to allusions. Hamlet compares his father to Hyperion while comparing his uncle to a Satyr, Hamlet compares his mother to Niobe, and states the contrast between him and Hercules.…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There have been many points in the story that can lead the audience to believe that Hamlet is mad, but none more than him thinking about committing suicide. "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 Seem to me all the uses of this world"(1.2.133-138). This quote is a perfect example to show how Hamlet thinks about committing suicide.…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With Hamlet’s father dying, he begins to feel depressed and lonely. Hamlet begins his spiral into madness after his father’s death. Hamlet starts to feel suicidal, shows mental instability, and emotional instability. When Hamlet says “too sullied flesh would melt”(1.2.137), he is actually talking about his own life and how he wouldn’t mind it being over. He also shows depression when he says “How stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world”(1.2.138). This shows how Hamlet is now experiencing clinical depression because he has lost his motivation to keep living as well as him not interested in anything. When Hamlet meets the ghost and becomes influenced by it, Hamlet can’t tell whether he is doing the right thing or the ghost is…

    • 649 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hamlet's Views Of Humanity

    • 1850 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Hamlet views suicide as the means of relieving the pain of what the person is going to through. But, the way suicide is viewed during that time was not a good one. Committing suicide was a sin that did not take you to heaven. Humanity would criticize the one who committed suicide; and plus if a person commits suicide, they would not have a Christian burial. "Let me…

    • 1850 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays