Uncertain Decisions

Hamlet’s perception of mortality is very complex and evolves quite dramatically throughout the play. All major decision making is expressed in the four soliloquies and certain events in between that make him realize how his view of death can differ in an instant. In Hamlet,

In his first soliloquy, Hamlet is so unbelievably mad at Claudius and his mother that he seriously considers suicide as a solution. He wishes he could leave this “weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable” (1.2.133) world. It sounds like life has very little meaning compare to his problems at the moment. Although it seems like the next logical action to take religion forbids it, and therefore he gives up for now.

The actual problem at this stage is that the ghost of Hamlet’s father asked him to kill Claudius to avenge his death but Hamlet does not seem to be able to do so. “Am I a coward?”(2.2.530) is the question on his mind. He finally admits that Claudius is a “bloody, bawdy villain! Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindles villain!”(2.2.541-543) he finds reasons to want to kill him after all and decide to get himself together and act! Before doing so though, he puts on “The Mousetrap” to prove that Claudius is guilty so he does not kill and innocent man.

So far, Hamlet only really thought about dying and killing as a wrong or right, not as a whole complicated concept. In “To be or not to be,”(3.1.57) Hamlet actually discusses the idea of suicide from a very logical intellect point of view. In this part of play, Shakespeare intertwines themes of death and nobility when Hamlet is wondering if dying is a noble act, or if suffering is the better option. Before, Hamlet just thought of suicide as a way to end his misery and now he compares it to sleeping, but he is becoming more open to expanding his knowledge of death and all its aspects. A new idea he’s considering is afterlife. No one knows what it is like really and it can be wonderful or scary, no one will ever be able to tell. I believe this to be one of the existential questions that everyone must have asked themselves at least one because death is the biggest mystery of life and we do not know if we should fear it, or welcome it when the time comes. As Hamlet recognizes, “conscience does make cowards of us all… thus the native hue of resolution / Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought.”(3.1.84-86) I think this thought illustrates perfectly how someone on the verge like Hamlet might want to reconsider the act of suicide. Because we are human, we think. And because we think, we realize that no one chooses to live, but ending our own life can be hard because of the uncertainty of what is on the other side. This soliloquy is very philosophical and the focus shifts from killing Claudius to this existential mortality question…

In Act 3 Scene 3, Hamlet has the opportunity to kill Claudius but for some reason he delays… (Why the delay? You’ll have to read another post to figure that one out!) After that major event, the ghost appears to Hamlet once more to remind him of his purpose because he seemed to have backed down. This is the first step of a big motivation for Hamlet. Following that conversation with his father’s ghost, he observes something that truly inspires him to accomplish what is asked of him. Noticing how Fortinbras’ army is ready to fight and die for him for a valid cause in their eye, Hamlet is now certain he has the motive he needs to act and kill Claudius! At that point, he even questions why he delayed earlier, he wants blood! Also, he sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their death instead of him! He does not seem so worried about killing people for his personal benefit anymore...

Near the end of the play, Hamlet is discussing with the gravediggers and he sounds like he is almost mocking death, but he will discover a whole new side to it when they show him the skull of someone he once knew, Yorick. Seeing his old jester’s in this decaying state makes him truly uncomfortable, we can even say upset. At this moment, he stops laughing at death and makes a realization that will completely change his view on the matter: death is what makes us all human, it is the great equalizer. It does not matter who you were when you were alive, we all end up in the same place because death is unavoidable no matter how famous, rich, or beautiful someone is.

In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the idea of mortality finds very deep meaning in Hamlet’s character. In the beginning, he did not know exactly how he felt about death; if he understood it, or if he hated it. In the end, it is clear that he finally accepted the fate of the human race and uses it to avenge his father and welcomes his own death when it comes.

This is a video of Steve Job’s speech at Stanford University. His third story is about death and seems relevant after reading Hamlet. Start watching at 9:00, it’s a really inspirational story that can actually be related to Hamlet! 

This picture simply illustrates how Hamlet keeps changing his mind about the concept of mortality and how much he questions it.