Death played a major role in Hamlet. Almost every person died throughout the play. During the first act, the former king appeared in the form of a ghost to inform Hamlet that he was murder by his own brother. Hamlet was not sure what to believe. He spent his time thinking and discussing death,because he wanted to make his uncle pay for his sins. Hamlet’s mood changed once he found out about his father. Also, what he wanted was to kill his uncle. He hired a few actors to help him work on a play. The role of this play was to see the reaction of his uncle’s. Once the play was a success Hamlet started to come up with a plan. A plan to kill his uncle. Later on, hamlet’s plan to kill his uncle was a success. His uncle drank the poisoned drink,as well as his mother and they both died. By killing his uncle he also suffers and was killed as well.
4 thoughts on “What is the role of death in the play? Why does Hamlet spend so much time thinking about and/or discussing it?”
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Hello Lazaro, I agree with your point of view on how death played a major role in Hamlet. Throughout the play in Hamlet, I believe nine characters die. In Hamlet, almost everyone is murder by someone. Hamlet spent so much time thinking about taking revenge on Claudius because he wants to make sure about who murdered his father. In the end, Hamlet’s plan was successful and he killed his uncle.
It is true that death dominated Hamlet’s mind and memory all through from the start to the end of the play. Across the paly nine characters passed away mostly through murder by other characters. Hamlet, the main characters spend most time of the play thinking on strategies he can use to kill his uncle. Despite his delay in actualizing the murder strategy, he finally succeeds in killing his uncle through a poisoned drink, which in further extend leads to the death of his mother. In order to punish the evil, death still dominated the end of the play, leading to Hamlet’s suffering and finally his assassination.
Hello Lazaro, I think your point that death played significant role in Hamlet is right. From his father to Polonius, even his lover, friends, mother and uncle, the death was the thread that ran through the play. Hamlet was awaken by the death of someone important to him and deeply thought of the meaning of death. It was the punishment to the wicked and he didn’t fear death for revenge.
Hello Lazaro, I agree with you. There is a famous Chinese writer saying that, “tragedy is the destruction of what is valuable in life”. For everyone who is alive, the most precious thing is life, and that is why death plays an important role in all tragedies. Of course Hamlet is a tragedy, everything starts from the death of his father. In order to revenge, Hamlet wants to destroy his enemies’ most valuable thing. He keeps thinking, and finally finds out that death alone can pay for death. That’s why death is so important in Hamlet.