Mortality in Hamlet

Throughout the play, Hamlet finds himself somewhat obsessed with the idea of death. He is constantly pondering aspects of suicide and life after death. Hamlet’s obsession with the idea of suicide is shown especially in his famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy. He says “to be or not to be-that is the question: whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against the sea of troubles..” He is wondering if it’s better to suffer through the pains and troubles of life, or to just end it all and not have to suffer. Hamlet wants to know if the unknown of after death is better or worse than life itself. His questions of afterlife are the only things keeping him from committing suicide. His fear of afterlife being horrible and life being much better is what is keeping him alive. I think in a way Hamlet wishes he had the courage and dignity to kill himself.. or at least to kill Claudius. He thinks of himself as a coward for failing to do either. This lack of action towards Cladius may have caused Hamlet his own life. Hamlet seems to be obsessed with death in general which leads him to his suicidal ideas. His obsession with death itself is shown when he is first confronted with the ghost and when he is asked about Polonious’ whereabouts. When asked about Polonius Hamlet’s response is “at supper..not where he eats, but where he is eaten. A certain convocation of politic worms are e’en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet…”. He claims that Polonius is “In heaven. Send hither to see. If your messenger find him not there, seek him I’ th’ other place yourself. But if indeed, you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby.” Along with his obsession with death, which is shown in these quotes from Hamlet, he looks at mortality in an interesting way and it’s as if he’s mocking it. One of Hamlet’s perspectives on death is shown in the graveyard scene when he say “No, faith, not a jot; but to follow him thither with modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it, as thus: 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?”. This scene shows Hamlets thoughts about the inevitability of death. He’s talking about the human life cycle and how no matter who we are, no one can escape death. Death is inevitable. Hamlet explores the idea of how we create ourselves to be a certain way, but in the end we all end up the same. This sets up for the scene of Ophelia’s funeral. Ophelia’s way of suicide was based on madness. For her, she wasn’t afraid of the unknown of the afterlife she just wanted to quit suffering in life.