Theme Of Death In Hamlet

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Celia Caro Professor Eldevik Intro. To Literature Essay # 3
Views of Death Death is a topic that is avoided in most conversation. The majority of people do not want to think of how or when they will die much less discuss it out loud with others. Most people do not want to think about where they will go after death. These are thoughts that are better left unsaid. “Ain’t nothing wrong with talking about death. That’s part of life. Everybody gonna die. You gonna die, I’m gonna die. Bono’s gonna die. Hell, we all gonna die” (Fences, Act 1, Scene 1). In William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Hamlet is a young man that is unafraid and longs for death. In comparison, August Wilson presents a man who has cheated death once and feels immortal in Fences. Each play presents death in a different light. One play presents the idea that death might be a better option than life and yet the other presents death as not even an option to be considered even though he states in the quote above that everyone will die at some point. “To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the …show more content…
“O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter. O God, God, How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seems to me all the uses of this world!” (Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 2, line 129-134) Hamlet was more than ready to follow his father into death but was too scared of going to hell for it. His conflict between heaven and hell is also shown when he refuses to kill Claudius when he sees him praying in the church. “Now might I do it pat, now’a is a-praying, and now I’ll do’t-and so ‘a goes to heaven, and so am I revenged. That would be scammed” (Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3, line 73-75). Even though he had a chance to get revenge for his father’s death Hamlet chose to wait so that Claudius would not be sent straight to
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