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Theme Of Grief In Hamlet

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After experiencing a devastating event such as loss or pain, one enters the process of grieving. There are many stages of this series, starting with denial and ending with acceptance. However, some do not encounter all stages and pause at one in particular: anger. Many of William Shakespeare’s works revolve around the universal theme of revenge, in which his characters use to cope with their griefs. One of his earliest-written characters Titus Andronicus suffers from his sons’ deaths and especially his daughter’s mutilation, with whom the general has an affectionate relationship. Later on, Shakespeare created the renowned character of Prince Hamlet, whose uncle kills his father, the King, and marries his mother. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a revenge …show more content…

Rather than romantic love, Shakespeare repeats the theme of his main characters’ strong relationships with their families. Prince Hamlet explicitly states that to “have a father killed, a mother stained” is an obvious reason for his grief (Hamlet IV. iv. 59). He attributes a violent tone to mention the loss of his father and the ruin of his mother. On the other hand, Titus also explicitly uses graphic detail to describe his sons’ heads and personifies them as he believes that those “two heads do seem to speak to me” (Titus Andronicus III. i. 271). In both of these soliloquies, Shakespeare underscores the emotional pain of both characters by constantly alluding to their loved ones’ deaths and downfalls. The repetition highlights the long periods of grief for both characters and builds up their potential thirsts for revenge. Titus Andronicus is a war hero whose sons died in war, but this does not deeply affect him as much as the maiming of his only daughter. Chiron and Demetrius committed a crime great enough to cause Titus, a general who would usually make quick decisions, to enter a state of shock and inactivity. It is also notable that Titus and Hamlet witness the decline of the important women of their lives to the antagonists. Hamlet loses his mother to his uncle while Titus’s daughter is maimed by Tamora’s two sons. The defeat of these two women, done by men, also highlights the powerless status and minor roles of women of Shakespeare’s

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