Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Death from Above
As many would agree with me, this play seems to revolve around the idea of death, in many different ways. There is death from suicide, assination, manslaughter, and just mere bad luck leading to death. I can understand, from Shakespeare time, that death was a very prevalent. There was the plague, which happend to kill almost a third of the population in Europe alone. Then there were public hangings and decapatations, random duels leading one dead, and one mostlikely stabbed or hacked. Also, after Polonius' death Hamlet states the cycle of life, and how a begger may end up eating a king, by having the king burried where he is decomposing and worms start to eat the king. The worm is then picked and used for fishing bait, where the fish eats the worm, and the fish is then stolen from a stand by a begger, who is unknowingly eating the once alive King. All in all, when I was first informed that we were going to read Hamlet, I was not looking forward to it, but I enjoyed the play thoroughly even with all the death in it. I'm sure if i grew up in those times, I would have more prevalently found myself thinking of death, or I would be more acceptable of death.
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6 comments:
I agree that death seems to be present throughout the entire play. A good point to bring about the point of the plague and its devestating effects. Overall this was a good post Trevor
yeah, back then human life wasn't worth barely anything, i too would have had an entirely different mindset about life and death, if i had been born in that time period
If you're going to be writing about death serving as the great equalizer I would definitely use, or at least look into Hamlet's speech as you mentioned - the one about the king being eaten by a beggar. Or if you were to talk about death in general it would also serve. Though possibly his to be or not to be speech could serve better when speaking of suicide.
I agree with you about all the death that takes place in the play and how it was or is more prevalent to the olden days, due to this i find that in many ways it is harder for us to ultimately connect with the play as a whole. i like the speech you used as an example and i think it would be a good focal point for your essay.
Death is a really common factor in all of the Shakespeare I've read (all like two, but anyhow)...I'd go with it, run with it, you're on a good path. I like your tone in this post too, you say some elloquent words my friend...props
I agree with you that the central theme is dealth. Death was more common during this age and people didnt live as long. From that it may have been why Laritees alomst humoriously stated there was no hope and less than a half an hour to live. Hamlet and others seemed oblivious to dealth with out fear. It must have been abit more accepting but why does Ophilia and Hamlet go mad when they lose their fathers. The King said your father had a father who had a father that all died. It is and was something to live with. But if death was more prevalent back then why does Ophilia and Hamlet go mad with sorrow over the deaths of their fathers.
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