Roger Ebert: The Essential Man

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

In Chris Jones’s biography “Roger Ebert: The Essential Man” (2010), Jones narrates that Ebert’s life has changed dramatically due to medical conditions. Jones gives details in chronological order from when Ebert discovered his cancer to when he was finally cured. Jones’s purpose for writing this article is to describe a famous critics life in order to show the effects of his cancer on his life. The intended audience would be anyone interested in the effects of cancer or Roger’s personal experience with cancer.

In Money Love, Lauren Slater explores the importance of life. Whether it be animal life of human life, each are proven to be equal, but in different ways. In the chapter, Slater even questions whether her daughter’s life is more important than a monkey’s, along with the human population in general. There is a part to humans that makes us much more likely to value our own lives over an animals’. The question is: is there really more value to a human’s life?

Should people put the value of life into monetary value or should life be kept solely as an emotional quantity? People and societies throughout the ages have been trying to answer the problem of putting the value of life into terms of dollar bills. The ancient Egyptians buried their dead with all of their worldly belongings. They believed a person’s monetary worth on Earth was over, and they should take all of that earthly worth with them to the afterlife. Modern day Americans are different from the Egyptians. Today people believe that the families of the dead should be compensated for “their” loss.

Throughout the course of the play, Hamlet is also obsessed with the mystery of death. In the beginning of the play, he states that he is unsure where one ends up after they die. Later into the play, he makes a reference to the afterlife contradicting his first approach. When he attempts to kill

In act 3 scene 1 of William Shakespeare “Hamlet” the main protagonist, Hamlet, recites a soliloquy “To be, or not to be.” Throughout his lines Hamlet explains the concept of suicide and why people choose to live long lives instead of ending their suffering. The main point he speaks on is the mystery of one’s afterlife, they never know for sure what happens when they die. For this reason, his speech does a good job highlighting the plays underlying themes of pervasiveness of death, and tragic dilemma, and tragic flaws.

Next, in one of the most famous soliloquies in the English language, Hamlet again contemplates the subject of suicide, but he does not do so on impulses of emotion. Instead, his contemplation is based on reason. “To be or not to be, that is the question: whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer outrageous fortune…or end them. To die, to sleep- no more- and by a sleep to say we end the heartache…’Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. For who would bear the whips and scorns of time…who would fardels bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler

The "dread of something after death, The undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will" (3, 1, 78-80) and keeps people from choosing death due to the fear of the unknown. His entire monologue compares the two extremes: life and death. He analyzes both situations and thinks very much about the consequences of either action. This occurs not only in this speech, but also later in the play, and demonstrates that Hamlet’s indecisive personality is his fatal flaw. Hamlet does not only have a hard time choosing between life and death. He also can not choose between murdering Claudius or not. Even though Hamlet wanted to kill his uncle, he was terrified of the possible consequences and could not make a concrete decision. Consequently, he ended up procrastinating greatly with the murder.

In the soliloquy “To be, or not to be: that is the question” spoken by Hamlet, he discusses his views on death (III.i.56). In this scene he is contemplating his thoughts on suicide, death, life, and the afterlife as he awaits his meeting with Claudius. He reflects on whether the afterlife will have the same problems as his current life. He also shares his thoughts on death in another scene where he is a graveyard. Hamlet basically says you die and become food for the worms and then you are nothing in these lines “Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returned into dust; the dust is earth; of earth we make loam” (5.i.209-211). He gives so many details on life and death, yet he is the one causing so many of the deaths that occur within the play. If it were not for him seeking revenge for his father’s death then so many of the events that

In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, it’s clear that the title character, Hamlet, has a relationship with death, that relationship is often misunderstood. Some see him merely as an agent of death, and others believe he retains a lust for it throughout the entire play, inspired by the tragedy he’s experienced. While these interpretations are partially true, they don’t hold true throughout the play. Hamlet has a disdain for the world which makes him desire nothing but to fade away in the beginning of the play, but he develops a respect for fate and the unknown aspects of the afterlife. This respect eventually manifests itself in an attitude of indifference towards death.

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.

Now that the pressure has been lifted, Hamlet has the opportunity to ponder death, something that has demanded his attention since his father's demise. In the famous soliloquy Hamlet attempts to discard the appearance of death to dissect the survival instinct of human beings. Why, when death appears to be the desired escape from "a sea of troubles," do human beings refuse to succumb? (III.1 ln 59) Hamlet quickly grasps the inherent fear of the unknown present in the human psyche. This display of insightquickly disappears once Hamlet again faces emotional pressure. He somewhat maintains his ability to separate reality and appearance, but his intense passions stunt his efforts to remain on a direct course to his goals.

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

Hamlet says, “[death is] the undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveller returns” (III, I, 79-80). Hamlet saying no one returns from death is what adds to the elusiveness of it, Fundamentally, Hamlet is saying that nobody avidly takes their own life because nobody knows what comes after death, since nobody has ever returned. Also, since nobody is informed on the experience of the after life, it allows people to make assumptions that it must be terrible since people choose to live through all the pain and suffering they face. These factors combined create a large unknown that is unnerving to Hamlet and make him believe that that is why people continue to live. Suicide may just be too risky of an action and especially for those like Hamlet, who are meticulous and rational, the risk just might not be worth it.

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