Essay "To Be or not To Be:" Hamlet and His Suicidal Tendencies

performed on stage. One of the most famous of Shakespeare’s plays is the tragedy of “Hamlet”. Most people would read “Hamlet” and come to the conclusion that Shakespeare is a playwright mastermind, however, there are a few that would call it a disaster. One of these few people is T. S. Eliot, who wrote an essay called “Hamlet and his Problems” in which he verbally attacks Shakespeare and claims that the storyline of “Hamlet” is more mixed up than the character himself. He firmly believes that because…

Understanding the Mind of Hamlet with His Soliloquies The term soliloquy is a literary or dramatic form of discourse, within which a character talks to himself and reveals his inner thoughts without addressing a listener. Hamlet uses soliloquies to express his feelings towards his dead father and self loathing to the reader of the play but to none of the characters within it. Hamlet has a complex character and it is important for the audience to be able to understand…

Determining is a client is suicidal is a task that is not only detrimental, but is also difficult. Many clients who suffer from suicidal idealities also suffer from other disorders such as severe anxiety, delusions, substance abuse, panic attacks, and major depression (Butcher, 2007). There tends to be a marked change in the mood of the suicidal client as well as a decline in self esteem and personal hygiene (Butcher, 2007). A loss of interest where there once was interest, withdrawn depressive…

equal in importance. In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the protagonist Hamlet struggles throughout his life as he is in search of his true identity. The Webster's dictionary, under the second definition, defines identity as "The set of behavioral or personal characteristics by which an individual is recognizable as a member of a group." As life only moves forward for Hamlet, he struggles to find his place in life, nonetheless to revenge the murder of his father. From past experiences…

Hamlet: A Study of Depression? Hamlet, a Shakespearean character, constantly struggles in a battle with his mind. He leads a very trying life that becomes too much for him to handle. Hamlet experiences hardships so horrible and they affect him so greatly that he is unable escape his dispirited mood. In speaking what he feels, Hamlet reveals his many symptoms of depression, a psychological disorder. While others can move on with life, Hamlet remains in the past. People do not understand his…

most people believe that Hamlet is suicidal at his point in the play, it is not until this soliloquy where the audience actually learns of Hamlet’s ability to judge based on his emotion and logic. Hamlet’s ability to endure suffering allows him to realize how valuable and precious his life truly is. Anti-thesis: To live or not to live, a simple statement, yet full of meaning. It is in this statement where Hamlet proves to the audience that he is truly suicidal. William Shakespeare…

“Why did Hamlet take so long to finally kill Claudius?” Many philosophers have dappled into Shakespeare’s most controversial book. Some looking for answers, and trying to find a deeper understanding as to why Hamlet has hesitation towards the murder of Claudius. Ernest Jones’s pounders with many theories to answer this question in his most famous article, "The Oedipus-Complex as An Explanation of Hamlet's Mystery: A Study in Motive.” Jones begins with playing off Hamlet’s fears, the idea that maybe…

Hamlet and his Soliloquies In Shakespeare’s Hamlet the reader finds a chain of soliloquies, seven in total, involving the protagonist and extending from beginning to end of the drama. In this essay let us examine the soliloquy-approach which the hero uses. Harry Levin comments on Hamlet’s penchant for soliloquies in the General Introduction to The Riverside Shakespeare: Comparably, Hamlet has been taken to task – or, perhaps more often, sentimentalized – for an alleged…

In Hamlet, he seems to be mad, but there is a question that everyone asks when reading or watching this play “was it, or was it not true that Hamlet was faking his insanity, really suffering, or maybe even both.” First, this is what insanity is: insanity is acting crazy, but not knowing that they’re acting crazy. Also, it’s going through a lot of stress at the same time causing you to act stranger then a normal person. Hamlet was not totally insane. It doesn’t fit. I’m not saying that Hamlet was…

John Caird’s vision for his production of Hamlet was to give it a “suffocatingly religious” atmosphere where “the set was part cathedral, part castle, part graveyard, part attic” (Bate 202). Together with set designer Tim Hatley, he succeeded. Amy Gamerman of the Wall Street Journal characterized the set as “dismal” and “vacant-looking.” The set was comprised of luggage, suitcases and old trunks that were stacked, torn down and restacked again in different ways to make different scenes. Presumably…