Maya Efrat

Period 2, AP Literature

March 10, 2017

Coping With Loss:

An average person my age probably hasn't dealt with anything tragic in their lives. We have been

fortunate to have been brought up in a time period and location where we are well protected from things

like diseases and violence, things that people in different places around the world and in different time

periods were not safe from. In Hamlets time, death was a regular occurrence and most people did not

live past the age of 25. There were so many more factors to kill people then and nothing to protect them

from it such as diseases like the black plague and sword fighting and several executions for unfair

reasons. People experienced loss around them much more often so it was less shocking and didn't take

as bad of a toll on them.

Although it was less shocking, death is still a very sad thing to deal with and no matter where you are,

losing a loved one hurts. Parental death is very tragic and it makes sense why people went insane from it.

If I was one of Hamlet and Ophelias friends, I would deal with parental loss the same way I would do with

a friend I have right now in this day and age. I would offer my support and comfort and recognize the grief

process and validate it. I would check in on them continuously and make sure that their mental health is

okay so they aren't driven to insanity like some people were at that time.