Evan Perry Influence On Hamlet

To be, or not to be, is Shakespeare’s most famous soliloquy and arguable the most famous soliloquy ever written. The passage provides readers with an understanding of Hamlets personal fight with suicide. Here Hamlet weighs the positive and negative effects of committing suicide. Although Shakespeare inserted the passage to explain Hamlet’s thoughts it also has significance to the target audience of the Elizabethan/Jacobean Era. As through the passage Shakespeare discusses the controversial action of suicide. In the 17th Century society cared about the honour and respect of their family name. If one was to commit the sinful action of suicide they would be seen as dishonourable. Therefore suicide victims were not provided respectful burials and

Hamlet’s response to death reflects aspects of human nature today. People, then and now, want answers when they lose someone close to them; they want to know what happened to them and why they lost them in the first place. Depending on the loss, the mysteries surrounding a death can vary. This loss of a loved one can be sudden, like in Hamlet’s case, or unexpected, like in Ophelia and Laertes’ case, but the need for answers and justice remains. Moving forward, other aspects of human nature are revealed through looking at Ophelia and Laertes’ responses to death.

Based on the play of Hamlet by William Shakespeare, suicide is the most prevalent and important themes in Hamlet. Hamlet always asks himself for the reason to stay alive. Even though he always thinks that there is no reason for him to stay alive, however he always chooses to stay. The first reason Hamlet seems to contemplate suicide is because his life is contaminated by sins and revenge. The other reason he is thinking about suicide is because he is young and immature. Young adults usually look for escapes when they become angry with things. There are many instances where Hamlet contemplating suicide and he treats the idea of suicide morally, religiously, and aesthetically, with particular attention to Hamlet’s two important statements about suicide: the “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt” soliloquy (I.ii.129–158) and the “To be, or not to be” soliloquy (III.i.56–88).

The way that Shakespeare portrayed Hamlet’s soliloquy touches on a global issue of suicide. While Hamlet considers his suicidal thoughts it reveals inklings about his character. Hamlet’s soliloquy advances the tone of the play because of

Many directors choose to make many different decisions when producing their version of Hamlet. Every actor portrays the character Hamlet in several ways making each version almost a new story. Mel Gibson's 1990 version and the 2009 David Tennant films are very different in style, scene omissions and several other aspects.

In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, suicide is an important and continuous theme throughout the play. Hamlet is the main character who contemplates the thought of suicide many different times throughout the play, since the murder of his father. Hamlet weighs the advantages of leaving his miserable life with the living, for possibly a better but unknown life with the dead. Hamlet seriously contemplates suicide, but decides against it, mainly because it is a mortal sin against God. Hamlet continues to say that most of humanity would commit suicide and escape the hardships of life, but do not because they are unsure of what awaits them in the after life. Hamlet throughout the play is continually tormented by his fathers death and his

“Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder” (I.V.31). In Shakespeare's play titled Hamlet, Lies, deception, and foul play are all encompassed into an iconic tale of revenge. The tragedy takes place in Denmark, following the death of Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet. Shortly after his death, King Hamlet’s brother Claudius marries, the Queen, who is prince Hamlet’s mother. The ghost of the dead king later shows himself to Hamlet in order to reveal that he was actually murdered by his own brother Claudius. After the ghost instructs Hamlet to avenge his death, he composes a plan involving false insanity, to discover whether Claudius really did kill his father and how to avenge his father's death. In comparing the original Hamlet play, to movie

story in a memoir titled Madness: A Bipolar Life, in an attempt to shed some light and insight on the

The direct quotation is used to compare the slight differences that Olivier’s version of Hamlet (1948) had. It is used to illustrate the points that were different.

Hamlets contemplation of ending his life shows an inward conflict within himself. In his first soliloquy, he debates whether he should commit suicide. "To be, or not to be- / that is the question: / 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" (3.1. lines 64-68 Shakespeare). He questions why he should live with all of this chaos but overcomes this internal conflict because he acknowledges that in his religion suicide is a sin. “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!” (1.2. lines 133-136 Shakespeare). This soliloquy signifies the reality of Hamlet s internal conflict and also shows the reality of his external conflict with the society he is surrounded by. This declamation establishes

The Southwest Florida theater production of William Shakespeare's famous play "Hamlet" will be directed by Kevin Reynolds. In Which a Prince of Denmark named Hamlet, returns home from abroad only to find out his father the beloved King Hamlet senior has died, and his mother, Queen Gertrude remarried to the late King's brother Claudius Just a month after Hamlet senior died. Soon after, Prince Hamlet finds out from the ghost of King Hamlet, that King Claudius killed his father poisoning him in his sleep. Prince Hamlet enraged with the truth about his Father's death; the prince becomes conflicted on what he must do. Finally, Prince Hamlet decides to act and vows to kill King Claudius and anyone that gets in his way. Soon after, many characters die on his trail to avenge his Father, of whom include his friends, lover, and above his mother, Queen Gertrude. In the end, Hamlet kills King Claudius and thus obtains his revenge, but at the price of his own life. Prince Hamlet, the

Additionally, it is considered that at this point in the play he is possibly feeling suicidal, this observation is demonstrated by his words:

In Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, he contemplates for a while whether to commit suicide. Hamlet’s unhappiness is caused by the people around him. His mother’s actions of marrying her brother-in-law made Hamlet extremely frustrated drawing him out of the right mental state. Meanwhile, his view of his father is godlike, but he distrusts the Ghost enough to think about killing himself instead of pursuing the Ghost’s request. In Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, “to be, or not to be;” he contemplates (3.1). “The Everlasting had not fixed, His cannon ‘gainst self-slaughter!” (1.2). He is uncertain if things would be any better in the afterlife if he were to end his life. Hamlet’s hesitancy, especially concerning suicide, is the cause of his realistic and frightened nature. In this situation, his indecisiveness saves his life, but it also does not allow him to find another solution. Concluding, in his soliloquy he would rather

It is clear that the death of his father and his mother 's remarriage has taken an enormous mental toll on him and that he desires death to free himself of the burden laid upon him by the ghost. He romanticizes it, saying that suicide is the brave and courageous option akin to “[taking] arms” against troubles. However, he can’t commit to the idea of death, saying “To sleep, perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub / For in that sleep of death what dreams may come” (III, i, 66-67). He craves death, which would allow him to escape all the “natural shock / that flesh is heir to” (III, i, 63-64) but the more he ponders it, the further he is from reaching a decision. Ironically, the argument within his mind about how he should free himself of the ghostly burden — murder, or death — is impeding him from carrying out any action on it. At the end of his most famous soliloquy, Hamlet hasn’t made any decisive choice and therefore is in limbo regarding death due to his overarching rationale. His inaction proves “[his] endless reasoning and hesitation and the way in which the energy of his resolutions evaporates in self-reproaches” (Morgan 259). Moreover, Hamlet tackles the decision of interpreting what is real and what is false when he questions the ghost’s true nature. At first, Hamlet is certain

Hamlet feels the constant need to reassure himself that his beliefs are correct, especially in his soliloquies about death. It is stated, “O that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!...” (Act 1, Sn 2, 129-1559). Hamlet discusses how things were not good and he was just in mourning and despair in this soliloquy. In the noted to be or not be soliloquy he continues the decisions on death, “To be, or not to be: that is the question: 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?...” (Act 3, Sn 1, 56-89). As Hamlet continues through the play he gives up in a sense because of everything happening to the people he was close to and to him in general. He lost the people he cared about due to his uncle’s careless actions and his mother playing along with it. When he actually got emotion from his uncle things were only proven to be more complicated because his father’s ghost was correct. His soliloquies prove how Hamlet was overly depressed and wanted to die, although depression during this time period is completely different compared to now.