The Relationship of Death and Man’s Irrationality in Hamlet

Yusheng Qin 10/18/10 English IV The Relationship of Death and Man’s Irrationality in Hamlet William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a famous tragedy that follows the title character Hamlet’s wavering path of revenge. Early in the play, Hamlet encounters his father’s ghost, who tells Hamlet that his brother Claudius murdered him. Throughout the play, Hamlet is torn between his obligation to avenge his father and his uncertainty about this formidable task. Hamlet also experiences this indecisiveness when he contemplates suicide during several points in the play. Though he expresses disgust over Claudius’s inferiority to his father and his hasty marriage with Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, Hamlet more strongly detests his own†¦show more content†¦Ultimately, it was the lack of action on Hamlet’s part that led to the string of deaths at the end of the play. The rationale behind Hamlet’s deliberate delay in taking revenge against Claudius mainly stems from his fear of death and its consequences. Unlike Laertes, Hamlet meticulously examines the impact of his actions, which proved to only exacerbate the outcome. Throughout the play, Hamlet seemed to display an almost morbid obsession with death. For example, when Hamlet is asked to reveal Polonius’ body’s location, he replies â€Å"At supper ... Not where he eats, but where he is eaten.† Hamlet describes the life-cycle of human existence rather pragmatically; man eats in life and is eaten in death. The frailty of human existence haunts Hamlet constantly. In the iconic graveyard scene when Hamlet’s holding Yorick’s skull, he says â€Å"Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth into dust, the dust is earth, of earth we make loam, and why of that loam whereto he was converted might they not stop at a beer-barrel?† In these lines, Hamlet explores the brevity and futility of the human condition and the inevitability of death. Hamlet’s speech in the graveyard scene sharply contradicts with his previous notions about the afterlife. This is another example of Hamlet’s inconsistency in his logic. In Act I scene 2, Hamlet, out of deep depression, says â€Å"O, thatShow MoreRelatedGender Stereotypes in Othello Essay2033 Words   |  9 Pagesgender roles and stereotypes. Othello’s â€Å"conflicts are resolved, his needs to idealize and degrade her to maintain their love intact are momentarily reconciled only when he kills her† (Neely). Shakespeare mocks society’s extreme measures by suggesting death as the sole option for Othello when he fails to understand that Desdemona may not fit female stereotypes. Without the ability to label her, Othello fails to â€Å"assert Desdemona’s chastity and corruptibility simultaneously† and â€Å"murders Desdemona to redeemRead More Content, Themes, Diction and Imagery of Eliots Poems Essay4170 Words   |  17 Pagesque stion †¦, (10). 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