Hamlet themes of death

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Hamlet Themes of Death
The story of Hamlet is permeated by superstitions and notions surrounding the mystery of death. The story often chill the readers and compel them to doubt their spirituality and faith. In the first scene, there is a clear formation of captivation with the dead. The Ghost of Hamlet’s father is introduced in the play making the line between dead and living look fine. When the Ghost appears to Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo, they are all terrified. The Ghost of Hamlet’s father visit to the mortal world of the living creates curiosity to them. The contagious curiosity created at the beginning of the play sets the tone of the entire story with the premature death of Hamlet’s father.
After the murder of his father, Hamlet is overwhelmed by sorrow that leads him into a deep depression. At this time, Hamlet ponders committing suicide. He wishes to die as he says “O, that this too sullied flesh would melt, /Thaw, and resolve itself to dew” (Shakespeare 23). Hamlet appears to be a procrastinator who wants to revenge the untimely death of his father, but he doesn’t follow the plans accordingly to accomplish the mission. Since death is a reality, it is the antagonist in the play while Hamlet is the protagonist. Hamlet’s ambition to revenge is motivated by the fact that he will also perish. In his speech, Hamlet poses a question that one should ignore in order to keep living. His speech begins “To be or not to be” (Shakespeare 41).

Hamlet is not necessarily being disturbed by the death of his father but how he is quickly forgotten. Hamlet is shocked how Queen Gertrude comfortably moves on. Therefore, based on what Hamlet is experiencing after his father’s death, he concludes that life abides no meaning at all.
Mortality and death imagery is used in the play. Ophelia gives symbolic flowers to Hamlet because she feels that Hamlet has abandoned her. However, this appears to be a deathly image in the statement “I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died” (Shakespeare 36). Since when her father was killed, she feels that her truthfulness has been smashed. The image symbolizes the feeling of the defeat of faith and hopelessness that people feel when challenged by death. Another imagery of death occurs when Hamlet talks about the dead Polonius’ body. “He is at supper [..] Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain convocation of politic worms are e’en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots” (Shakespeare 38). This imagery shows that human beings are in the circle of life and therefore they eat animals to survive. However, when human beings die, worms and maggots feed on their dead bodies to survive. This is actually an unforgettable and tremendous image of mortality.
Hamlet is always in black clothes that would symbolize he is mourning his father. Surprisingly, Hamlet is also mourning his ultimate death. In the course of the play, Hamlet gets obsessed with his death. He finds it difficult to avoid thinking about death. His mind is occupied by revenge he is planning and the death of his father. Hamlet faces another challenge of death when his girlfriend Ophelia accidentally dies. In the play, it is difficult to know how Ophelia’s untimely death came about. Hamlet concludes that people who can terminate their lives are not afraid of death. But those who cannot commit suicide have fear in them. Therefore fear in Hamlet stops him from terminating his life.
The eminent deathly image in Hamlet is found in the grave digging scene. While in the scene, Hamlet chats with a clown on the time that human body takes to decay. They come across the skull of Yorick who was a jester to Hamlet’s father. He is shocked and decides to hold the skull. Hamlet starts talking to the unconscious bones “Where be your gibes now, your gambols, your songs, your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table on a roar?”(Shakespeare 52). In this scene, Hamlet meets death that he has been thinking about. Here, Shakespeare reminds people that they are living through their jokes, stories, traits, and actions. However, what is the meaning of life if all people will end up decaying like Yorick.
Shakespeare gives an accepting approach towards death. Hamlet seems to accept death from the scene after he comes into contact with Yorick’s skull. Thus, Hamlet realizes that death is inevitable and all people are set to die. Therefore, death doesn’t consider positions or living style. It is common to all people. Shakespeare shows this clearly as Hamlet says Alexander was great and Yorick was a jester but both “returneth into dust” (Shakespeare 53). At the end of the play, there is a bloodbath as Hamlet finds what he wanted throughout the play. He retaliates by killing Claudius. The play has explored death in many different angles and presented it in many images. This is Shakespeare’s important play as it is centered on death. Therefore, it will always be an interesting play to the audience as death will forever be a mystery of the world.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Dover Publications, 1992.