Death

Shakespeare finds such value in the use of death and tragedy in his plays. Therefore, he uses this as a theme for most of his plays. When we read about the death involved in the play there are many different types. For example, some are related to rage and aggression whereas some relate to sadness. When Hamlet kills polonius, it is out of anger, but it also happens to be an accident. The way Shakespeare uses death really helps out the play. Hamlet as a character is set out to kill the king and has an opportunity to, but he just flakes out. It seems that the more important the character, the more they find the need to kill. Laertes is upset with Hamlet for killing his father so he feels the need to avenge it. That shows that death is of great importance for the characters. In Romeo and Juliet, juliet pretended to be dead so that they could be together. Since Romeo thinks Juliet is dead he kills himself. What is the importance of this death, to the characters? It makes the characters the way they are. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy because of death, Hamlet could also be considered a tragedy because it focuses on the importance of death. The deaths in Hamlet are based off each other. Hamlet wants to kill the king because he killed his father. Hamlet accidentally kills Polonius thinking that it was the king. Leartes wants to kill Hamlet because of his father. Ophelia just goes crazy because of all that happens and kills herself. Death in this play seems to be mocked in certain cases, instead of oh no tragedy. For example, when the sword fight at the end happens they mean to kill Hamlet with the poisioned drink, but instead kill the queen. That does not really seem like a sad death for the queen, just for the king. The audience just kind of feels that's what the king deserves for trying to kill Hamlet. Ophelia kills  herself because of insanity. It seems that Shakespeare creates the sadness of death through her character. Ophelia as a character only suffers because she cannot be with her lover Hamlet. Her father is killed by her lover which in turn creates more sadness, which eventually ends in the suicide. The suicide in the play, is where the tragedy comes in. Shakespeare writes suicide in his plays to put out the idea of suffering as an individual. Most of his characters suffer from their overall surroundings and situations put in front of them.