Hamlet's Fear

    Fear plays an important role in Shakespeare's tragic play, Hamlet. Within the play, the main character, Hamlet, attempts to overcome his fear and fulfill his father's revenge. Hamlet's apprehension toward death prevents him from carrying out the murder of Claudius. Although confrontation with death is avoided for as long as possible, Hamlet comes to recognize his weakness, and faces this anxiety.

Hamlet is strongly held by archetypes that can be revealed throughout the play. Death, itself, is a very strong archetype in the story exploring the social beliefs in that era; superstitions and societies loyalty to religion. Throughout the play, Hamlet experiences his main trifles over the concept of death. Reviewing the murder of his father and the task given to him to kill his uncle, Hamlet becomes fascinated with the idea of existence and afterlife.As a whole, Hamlet is primarily concerned with exploring the individual's relationship with death in which our fear of death comes from the notion that there must be something else, eliminating the fact that we can't ever know for sure if there is. This idea is explored in Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” soliloquy, which questions the righteousness of life over death in moral terms. When Hamlet utters the pained question, “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” (Act 3, Scene 1 59-61) there is little doubt that he is thinking of death. Although he attempts to pose such a question in a rational and logical way, he is still left without an answer of whether the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” can be eliminated since life after death seems so uncertain. All of this mirrors aspects of human nature as man has always questioned the meaning of life and the events that occur after. Theoretically, one will never understand the full nature of our

Death has always been a frightening and sore topic to talk or write about. As natural as death is, people rarely address it. It is definitely not a conversation starter and when timing is appropriate people still do not talk about it. Dying is the scary and inevitable part of nature. Sadly, all things that live must eventually die. Plants are blooming and colorful one day, but suffer the fate of time and die the next. Our lives are like the breath that one takes on a cold morning. It’s there for a moment, however it eventually disappears. The idea of dying brings so much fear in some people. Why do we fear death so much? In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the main character claims that we fear death because it is unfamiliar, “But that the dread

Hamlet, the eponymous hero of Shakespeare’s greatest work, descends swiftly into madness and paranoia after the murder of his father and the realization of his mother’s true, morally reprehensible, nature. As a result of these new responsibilities and extreme circumstances, Hamlet diverges from his usual, logical thinking into paranoia and over analysis, a condition that prevents him from trusting anyone. Hamlet, having been born a prince, is, for the first time, forced to make his own decisions after he learns of the true means of his father’s death. Another contributing factor to his madness is the constant probing of others into Hamlet’s sanity. These factors all contribute to Hamlets delay, and that delay contributes to the tragic

Fear and doubt is what caused Hamet to procrastinate the murder until the end of the play. Murder is a very heavy subject; it is more than just a casual crime. Hamlet learns what the burden of committing a serious crime like murder feels like. Multiple times throughout the play it seems as though Hamlet is motivated to go through with the murder, but it is just the heat of the moment. When Hamlets steps back and takes a minute to think about it, the fear and doubts kick in. After hamlet talks to his father's ghost and after the play within the play are two moments where Hamlet seemed amped up and ready to get his revenge. Hamlet proves to be an intelligent person who thinks before he acts, until the very last scene, when he agreed to fence

The three characters, Hamlet from Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and Pi from Life of Pi, all must overcome hardships in order to be successful in life. It is apparent that each of these characters has his own struggle to go through. However, each struggle helps the character to become stronger in his own way. These struggles give the characters strive to achieve a goal, and eventually each character is able to achieve his own individual success. It is through the experience of hardships, Hamlet, Mr. Darcy and Pi, become stronger, more ambitious individuals, ultimately achieving success.

The afterlife plays a critical role, in key decisions made throughout the play Hamlet. This can be prominently seen in the character Hamlet, and the influence his dead father, has on him. As well as the influence that death itself holds over Hamlet, through ideas of suicide and the effect it will have over him, whether he will go to purgatory or heaven. Hamlet also suffers from a fear of the unknown, focused on by Shakespeare, through the themes of death, and what happens when we die. Through these ideas and themes found under the idea of death, Shakespeare creates a masterpiece in which death is both feared and adored, and the concept of the unknown has been ever present.

Shakespearean tragedies all have their fair share of death, but Shakespeare’s Hamlet stands out among the others in it’s overall revolvement around the idea of death and the afterlife. The play itself begins in act 1 with the ghost of Hamlet’s father, the dead king, setting Hamlet on a mission to exact revenge on the ghost’s brother and murderer, the new king Claudius. John Carroll expands on Hamlet’s mindset through the use of metaphysical sociology in, “Death and the Modern Imagination” explaining, “Hamlet was rather paralyzed by his encounter with death, in the form of his father’s ghost, to whom he swore an oath. It was when death became meaningless for Hamlet, and as a result all-encompassing, that life became meaningless” (565). Death loses meaning to Hamlet and, in turn, so does life, causing him to become resentful and detached, leading to his mental torment of the people closest to him and the eventual widespread death of almost every character in the play. Hamlet’s newfound indifference for both life and death develops into a cynical and almost inhumane attitude, infesting his lively surroundings with venomously negative ideals and eventually becoming a metaphor for death himself.

One of the most common fears is that of death. This fear does not often stem from the process itself, but rather the question of what occurs after. Do we begin living another life? Will that life be better or worse than the one we previously led? These questions are filled with uncertainty, and the impossibility of answering them produces distress. In Hamlet, Hamlet struggles with the challenge of answering such questions himself when he laments, “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. There’s the respect / That makes calamity of so long life” (3.1.66-70). Within Shakespeare’s tragedy, the text signifies the fear of the unknown by exploring Hamlet’s uneasy contemplation of life after death.

In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Prince Hamlet does not prove to be the stereotypical perfect prince. Shakespeare’s choice in making Hamlet vulnerable, anxious and afraid of the stress of his life allows for the reader to relate to him. Each human experiences fear and its mysteries. However, in order to move forward in life, it is inevitable to face these fears. Indecisive minds, like Hamlet, can grow by taking the time to comprehend their fears, letting the fears guide their thoughts and choosing to use their creative imaginations to make decisions.

Even though Hamlet seems to have full control of his mentality state, he is still attempting to grasp the unknown of the future. While Hamlet is speaking to “himself” in the lobby, he has a debate as to whether he should be alive or commit suicide, and also discusses the many different levels of the pros and cons of both decisions. During this speech he says: “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,” (3.1 lines 85-88). In this quote, Hamlet utilizes

In Hamlet's soliloquy in Act 3, scene 1, he presents his most rational and dominating scrutiny of the moral authority to take one's own life. He presents the dilemma of whether to commit suicide and escape one's frustrations in life, or to live because of fear of the after life. "To be or not to be-that is the question:/ Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer/ The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles" (3.1. 64-7). He decides that the only reason people choose to live is because they fear the afterlife and it's consequences. "When he himself might his quietus make/With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, / To grunt and sweat under a weary life, / But the dread of something after

Tension builds as Hamlets rationale is clouded by his passion. In order to “catch the conscience of the king” (2.2.584), Hamlet devises a plan to organize a play that will trigger Claudius’ repressed secrets to come to light. Once it is revealed that Claudius is guilty of the murder, Hamlet’s passion for righteousness ensues. Thus, Hamlet is confronted with the decision of whether to kill Claudius while he is confessing his sins in the chapel - begging the question, “to be or not to be” (3.1.57). His introspective manner deems him cowardly, and delays his action, aiding in the apprehension of the final events. This passion initiates a sense of rashness towards his subsequent actions. In killing Polonius, Hamlet passes the point of no return,

Hamlet’s lack of knowledge of the afterlife, along with his inability to wrap his mind around a solid belief of what it entails, leads his fear of the afterlife to go beyond his doubt in the Ghost and result in him deciding against suicide. In what is possibly his most famous soliloquy beginning “To be, or not to be: that is the question,” (3.1.68) Hamlet’s question is referring to life. He is debating whether or not he should commit suicide. Despite his pain and suffering, Hamlet does not carry out his suicide as a result of not knowing what the afterlife will entail. The ghost had referred to purgatory as a prison, which naturally does not make it appeal to Hamlet. However, he is not even certain of the ghost’s existence, so the ghosts description of purgatory is not necessarily a reliable account. Hamlet is unsure of what will happen in the afterlife and is not comfortable with the fact that he cannot guarantee it will cause him to be happier than he is on earth. He is aware of his lack of knowledge in regards to the after life and since he cannot guarantee what it will entail, his fear of it prevents him from entering it before his time has come. This is shown when he states that the fact that one cannot predict what the afterlife involves “makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of?” (3.1.81-81) Since Hamlet is unsure

The more Hamlet thinks, the more prone he is to doubt. The thoughts of death continuously consume Hamlet's mind. Unable to bring himself to kill Claudius, Hamlet questions his bravery, “Am I a coward?” (2.2.598). He cannot find a reason inside him for not taking action, leading Hamlet to question his morality: “To be or not to be” (3.1.64). Although he asks such a profound question, it is impressive that he does not give a direct answer. His mind is so full of the reasons to live and to die that