“THE NATURE OF LIFE AND DEATH IN WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET”

A Literary Paper

Submitted to the Faculty of English

Of Lumampong National High School

-Indang Annex

Gee Anne L. Romea

Grade 09 – Dalton

January 2016
 I. INTRODUCTION

Hamlet is thinking about life and death and pondering a state of being versus a state of

not being – being alive and being dead. Written by the most influential writer in all of English

literature, William Shakespeare. Hamlet most likely first performed in July at the year 1602. It

was available in printed form in year 1603 and appeared in an enlarged edition in 1604.

It was in William Shakespeare's later period, after 1600, that he wrote the

tragedies Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth. In these, Shakespeare's characters present

vivid impressions of human temperament that are timeless and universal. Possibly the best

known of these plays is Hamlet, which explores betrayal, retribution, incest and moral failure.

These moral failures often drive the twists and turns of Shakespeare's plots, destroying the hero

and those he loves.

The raw material that Shakespeare appropriated in writing Hamlet is the story of a Danish

prince whose uncle murders the prince’s father, marries his mother, and claims the throne. The

prince pretends to be feeble-minded to throw his uncle off guard, and then manages to kill his

uncle in revenge. Shakespeare changed the emphasis of this story entirely, making his Hamlet a

philosophically minded prince who delays taking action because his knowledge of his uncle’s

crime is so uncertain. Shakespeare went far beyond making uncertainty a personal quirk of

Hamlet’s, introducing a number of important ambiguities into the play that even the audience

cannot resolve with certainty. For instance, whether Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, shares in

Claudius’s guilt; whether Hamlet continues to love Ophelia even as he spurns her, in Act III;

whether Ophelia’s death is suicide or accident; whether the ghost offers reliable knowledge, or

seeks to deceive and tempt Hamlet; and, perhaps most importantly, whether Hamlet would be
morally justified in taking revenge on his uncle. Shakespeare makes it clear that the stakes riding

on some of these questions are enormous—the actions of these characters bring disaster upon an

entire kingdom. At the play’s end it is not even clear whether justice has been achieved.

II. AUTHORS’S BACKGROUND

William Shakespeare is the person behind 38 plays, 154 sonnets and two narrative

poems. One of his works is ‘Hamlet’. Born to John Shakespeare, a glove maker and tradesman,

and Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent farmer, William Shakespeare. Though no birth

records exist, church records indicate that a William Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity

Church in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 26, 1564. From this, it is believed he was born on or

near April 23, 1564, and this is the date scholars acknowledge as William Shakespeare's

birthday. William had two older sisters, Joan and Judith, and three younger brothers, Gilbert,

Richard and Edmund.

William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582, in Worcester, in

Canterbury Province. Hathaway was from Shottery, a small village a mile west of Stratford.

William was 18 and Anne was 26, and, as it turns out, pregnant. Their first child, a daughter they

named Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583. Two years later, on February 2, 1585, twins Hamnet

and Judith were born. Hamnet later died of unknown causes at age 11. After the birth of the
twins, there are seven years of William Shakespeare's life where no records exist. Scholars call

this period the "lost years," and there is wide speculation on what he was doing during this

period.

THEATRICAL BEGGININGS

Year 1592, there is evidence William Shakespeare earned a living as an actor and a

playwright in London and possibly had several plays produced. The September 20, 1592 edition

of the Stationers' Register (a guild publication) includes an article by London playwright Robert

Greene that takes a few jabs at William Shakespeare: "...There is an upstart Crow, beautified

with our feathers, that with his Tiger's heart wrapped in a Player's hide, supposes he is as well

able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes factotum, is

in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country," Greene wrote of Shakespeare. By the

early 1590s, documents show William Shakespeare was a managing partner in the Lord

Chamberlain's Men, an acting company in London. Records show that Shakespeare had works

published and sold as popular literature. Early in his career, Shakespeare was able to attract the

attention of Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton, to whom he dedicated his first- and

second-published poems: "Venus and Adonis" (1593) and "The Rape of Lucrece" (1594).

DEATH

Tradition has it that William Shakespeare died on his birthday, April 23, 1616, though

many scholars believe this is a myth. Church records show he was interred at Trinity Church on

April 25, 1616. In his will, he left the bulk of his possessions to his eldest daughter, Susanna.

Though entitled to a third of his estate, little seems to have gone to his wife, Anne, whom he

bequeathed his "second-best bed." This has drawn speculation that she had fallen out of favor, or
that the couple was not close. However, there is very little evidence the two had a difficult

marriage. Other scholars note that the term "second-best bed" often refers to the bed belonging to

the household's master and mistres—the marital bed—and the "first-best bed" was reserved for

guests.

III. HISTOROCAL EVENT RELATED TO THE WORK

During the first part of the seventeenth century, Hamlet most likely first performed in

July at the year 1602. It was available in printed form in year 1603 and appeared in an enlarged

edition in 1604. He could have taken the story of Hamlet from several possible sources,

including a twelfth-century Latin history of Denmark compiled by Saxo Grammaticus and a

prose work by the French writer François de Belleforest, entitled Histoires Tragiques.

‘Hamlet’ is influenced by Saxo Grammaticus or History of Danes. A story tells about the

rise and fall of the great rulers of Denmark. In Saxo's version, King Rorik of the Danes places his

trust in two brothers, Orvendil and Fengi. The brothers are appointed to rule over Jutland, and

Orvendil weds the king's beautiful daughter, Geruth. They have a son, Amleth. But Fengi, lusting

after Orvendil's new bride and longing to become the sole ruler of Jutland, kills his brother,

marries Geruth, and declares himself king over the land. Amleth is desperately afraid, and feigns

madness to keep from getting murdered. He plans revenge against his uncle and becomes the

new and rightful king of Jutland. This story is somehow related to ‘Hamlet’ that has the theme of

madness, revenge and mortality. It is possibly inspired Shakespeare to do the poem. The

Historical events can affect a person to do or to write something. In this case, the historical

events are related to his work ‘Hamlet’.

IV. CONNECTION OF WORK TO AUTHOR’S PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

 Shakespeare's father dies and his patron Earl Southampton is sentenced to death (later

reprieved) for his role in the Essex rebellion. It is believed that his father's death motivates

Shakespeare to write Hamlet around this time. Shakespeare's plays over the next few years take a

dark, brooding tone. And it is somehow related to the poem. The father of Hamlet died in murder

and he was sentenced in death because he killed Polonius.

V. DICTION OF THE WRITER

Every word in a literary piece plays a significant role in the whole piece. Sometimes there

are words that used by the author that are not common for us. These are the unfamiliar words

within the poem. For example, in the second line ‘Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer’,

nobler denotes for having high or elevated character. ‘The slings and arrows of

outrageous fortune’ at the third line, fortune means your overall circumstances or condition in

life. Such as the heir at ‘That flesh is heir to’ stand for a person entitled by law to inherit the

estate of another. He also used the word consummation means the act of bringing to completion

or fruition. And the word mortal means subject to death. Even the calamity at the fourteenth line

‘That makes calamity of so long life’, it signifies an event resulting in great loss and misfortune.

Within the line ‘For who would bear the whips and scorns of time’, scorns indicates the lack of

respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike. The word pang is also used, means a sudden

sharp feeling, as well the word despise means look down on with disdain. While in the

eighteenth line ‘The insolence of office’, insolence is the trait of being rude and impertinent. And

spurn is rejecting with contempt. The quality of being deserving is merit. Weary denotes as

physically and mentally fatigued. Other words that used are the dread, means fearful, the

conscience, means motivation deriving from ethical or moral principles, and the native means

belonging to one by birth. Additional words are the hue stand for the quality of a color
determined by its dominant wavelength and resolution signifies a decision to do something or to

behave in a certain manner. Enterprise was also used as a purposeful undertaking and awry is

used as turned or twisted to one side. So, it is important for us to understand every word in the

text to know what the literary piece is all about or exactly what the author’s want to share with

us.

VI. FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF THE WORK (Setting, Characters, Tone,

Mood)

Different literary piece contains fundamental elements; those are the Setting, Characters,

Tone and Mood of the piece.

A.) Setting

In the play of this poem took place at Denmark and England. Hamlet was the prince of

Denmark and his father is the King. When Hamlet killed Polonius Claudius sent him on England.

B.) Characters

Different characters are seen in the play. Hamlet was the protagonist and he took revenge

for the death of his father. While Claudius was the antagonist, he was the person behind the

murder of King Hamlet. Other characters were Ophelia (Hamlet’s girlfriend) and his father

named Polonius.

C.) Mood and Tone

The mood of the poem is emotionally and spiritually affected or being anxious because of

the texts within this literary piece.

 VII. PLOT ANALYSIS

Hamlet is a poem that is all about life and death. It was whether to continue to exist or not

– whether it was nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of an unbearable situation, or to declare

war on the sea of troubles that afflict one, and by opposing them, end them. Sleeping is like

dying, it will all end the heartaches and different problems you encounter. The only difference is

when you wake up from sleep you are still in the same place but from death it is likely lost in

other place. To die. To sleep. To sleep. Perhaps to dream. However in that sleep of death the

dreams we might have when we have shed this mortal body must make us pause. That’s the

consideration that creates the calamity of such a long life. Because, who would tolerate the whips

and scorns of time; the tyrant’s offences against us; the contempt of proud men; the pain of

rejected love; the insolence of officious authority; and the advantage that the worst people take

of the best. That’s the thing that confounds us and makes us put up with those evils that we know

rather than hurry to others that we don’t know about. So thinking about it makes cowards of us

all, and it follows that the first impulse to end our life is obscured by reflecting on it. And great

and important plans are diluted to the point where we don’t do anything.

VIII. FIGURE OF SPEECH, SYMBOLISM, IMAGERIES

FIGURE OF SPEECH

Shakespeare used some figure of speech to make more creative.

a.) Metaphor

“The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”, In their literal sense, “slings and arrows”

are weapons of war; however, The Bard uses them as metaphors for the difficulties in our lives.
Indeed, the remainder of that opening sentence considers that we might “take up arms against a

sea of troubles,” meaning we can go to war against life’s problems and possible win out. The

next sentence presents another metaphor: “sleep” to represent death. Weaving metaphors into

your prose and poetry will not only help your writing become more vivid, it will do so in fewer,

more powerful words that add poetic depth.

SYMBOLISMS

There are things that symbolize something in the poem. For example the slings and

arrows symbolize difficulties in our lives. Another is awry, it symbolizes the path we will choose

whether it’s a right or wrong path of your life.

IMAGERIES

It is important to understand the effectiveness of the dominant different imagery within

the text.

A.) Kinesthetic

In the poem it includes the situation of a person who endures all the heartaches and

different problems he encounter in life. Another is the feeling of being dead. Like sleeping just to

end the things that can make us feel so down.

IX. THEME EXTRACTION

The poem ‘Hamlet’ contained different themes, themes that contribute to the formation of

this literary piece. These are the themes within the poem:

A.) Madness
 Hamlet's originally acts mad (crazy, not angry) to fool people into think he is harmless

while probing his father's death and Claudius's involvement.

B.) Mortality

The weight of one's mortality and the complexities of life and death are introduced from

the beginning of Hamlet. In the wake of his father's death, Hamlet can't stop pondering and

considering the meaning of life — and its eventual ending. Many questions emerge as the text

progresses.

C.) Political Livelihood

The state of the nation in Denmark is deteriorating. The death of a king throws

any nation into political turmoil. With a new king on the throne and the deceased king's son

acting erratically, something's clearly off.

D.) Revenge

The play isn't about Hamlet's ultimately successful vengeance for his father's

murder at all. Instead, most of the play is concerned with Hamlet's inner struggle to take action.

The play is a lot more interested in calling into question the validity and usefulness of revenge

than in satisfying the audience's bloodlust.

X. GRAND THEME (Contribution of Formalistic and the Biographical

Approaches)

The Poem ‘Hamlet’ has different themes that contribute to make this literary piece. If we

combine all the themes (Madness, Morality, Political Livelihood and Revenge) we can say that

the poem talks about our condition in life. But I came up at the Grand Theme of ‘The Nature of
Life and Death’. There will be always start and end. Our lives will end on death. Death will

make us free from heartaches and thousand of natural miseries that human beings have to endure.

Dying is like crossing the border between known and unknown geography. One is likely to be

lost in that unmapped place, from which one would never return. The implication is that there

may be unimagined horrors in that land. The truth is life is not perfect and it is in your hand if

you will make your life worth living.