Death in Hamlet - Essay Example

Introduction

“Hamlet” by William Shakespeare is one of the greatest plays of all time. To my mind, the spirit of the decadence of the Middle Ages is a strong background for the development of the theme of death in Hamlet. Different characters of the play are striving for death. All their actions have a logical ending in death.  Different flaws of human actions reflected the darkest side of the lives of the Shakespearean characters. Death was a kind of salvation for the people in the depicted epoch by Shakespeare. They could not fight against the challenges and complexities of the world and their environments seemed hostile to them. A great playwright gives a lesson to his readers and says that it is better to solve different challenges and problems during life because death is not the best solution.

Death in the play

Hamlet is haunted by death from the beginning of the play. He was not afraid of self-destruction and he was captured by his own feelings and tragic emotions. The death of his father and the betrayal of his mother were the greatest impact on his psyche and Hamlet thought that the only way to solve his problems was to find salvation in death. Hamlet was curious about death; it was like an enchanting and amazing kingdom of peace.  Hamlet is involved in the deaths of Guildenstern and Rosencrantz (Act V, Scene II), but in the course of time, he is even greater involved in death and experiences its severe impact on him. Their idle curiosity about death reflects his weak-willed and idle nature. The world is cruel for him and he does trust either his mother or his girlfriend. There is a gradual transformation of feelings of Hamlet.  In Act V, Scene II, Hamlet shows his readiness for death: “If it is not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all” (5.2). Therefore, he is able to accept death and opens his arms to meet it. Reality is cruel, but Hamlet is sure that his victory over Laertes or his death is a logical ending to his turbulent life. He is focused on fate and he realizes that he is unable to escape from death. Hamlet gives up in the hands of fate and he is sure that it is a great master, which is able to deal with his life. Thus, Hamlet was moving for death and finally, he reached it.

Gertrude is also gradually coming to death. Her human flaws are incredibly destroying her own life and this woman is not afraid of drastic consequences, but she is striving for a final ending of her life. She finds death through her betrayal:

Good Hamlet cast thy nighted color off,

And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.

Do not forever with thy vailed lids

Seek for thy noble father in the dust:

Thou knowest 'tis common; all that lives must die,

Passing through nature to eternity.

(1.2.2)

There are the same emotions triggered by death and Queen Gertrude is focused on the inevitability of death. Both of these characters saw no reason to fight against death.  Hamlet’s father approached death involuntarily, but his son and his wife made death a central issue in their lives. Inevitable flaws of human lives cannot be resisted by the main characters of Shakespeare and they have to be imprisoned by their weak natures and follow a long grey tunnel of their lives, which ends with death and not with light.  Claudius and Gertrude behave as though they do not have any moral principles of behavior. There are no barriers to their destructive actions and they do not think about the drastic consequences of their actions. Thus, they play dangerous games with death.  They lived on the edge of life and they wanted to penetrate in darkness and depth of death.

Conclusion

It is evident that death is positioned by Shakespeare not as a kind of salvation, but as an inevitable and silly ending of life, like a punishment for human flaws. The main characters of the play were blind and they could not see that their drastic inhumane actions would lead to their deaths and deaths of other people around them. The society of the Middle Ages can be named as the society of the Dark Ages because they could not find peace and happiness in their daily lives; they were looking for intrigues and destructive actions and death was a wreath for their miserable lives. “Hamlet” is a depressive background for the development of human lives, which are full of flaws and degrading natures will find their peace in death.