Hamlet: Death and Melancholy

Introduction

The theme of death is a very prominent in the play, it could even be argued that it is the most important theme. Death as well as melancholy surrounds the characters throughout the play and since death is both the cause and the consequence of revenge, it is intimately tied to the theme of revenge and justice. Moreover, melancholy is the result of reflection on death or death being carried out. 

Act 1

Act 1’s focal point is the death of Hamlet’s father, which clearly triggers the other issues. This manifests itself in his ‘unnatural murder’ (the Ghost’s main problem) – it prevents its ascent to Heaven. Furthermore, Claudius’s ingenuine display of grief, seen in the multiple juxtapositions of Old Hamlet’s death in relation to his and Gertrude’s marriage, seems indicative of his insensitivity around the situation. Finally, Hamlet’s soliloquy is integral in emphasising the extent – and the excessiveness – of his melancholy due to his father’s supposed murder. Claudius’s reaction serves to possibly seal his guilt of this crime.

Key Quotes:

• Claudius: ‘bear our hearts in grief, and our whole kingdom// To be contracted in one brow of woe’ (1.2)
• ‘with one auspicious and one drooping eye// with mirth in funeral and dirge in marriage’ (1.2)
• Gertrude: ‘Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off// […] seek thy noble father in the dust’ (1.2)
• Hamlet: ‘not alone my inky cloak’  (1.2)
• Claudius: ‘impious stubbornness, tis unmanly grief// It shows a will most incorrect to heaven’ (1.2)
• Hamlet: ‘O that this too solid flesh would melt’ […] ‘how weary, stale, flat and unprofitable seems to me all the uses of this world’ (1.2)

• Ghost: ‘Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder’ (1.4)
• Ghost: ‘Was I… dispatched; cut off in the blossoms of my sin, unhouseled, disappointed and unaneled’ (1.4)

Act 2

The second Act mainly covers Hamlet’s interaction with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to whom he relates his melancholy surrounding the death of his father. His feelings about the futility of existence come to light here – in addition to the ardent self-hatred that he emphasises in his second soliloquy.

Key Quotes:

• Claudius: ‘Hamlet’s transformation… Sith nor the exterior not the inward man resembles that it was’ (2.2)
• Hamlet: ‘Denmark’s a prison […] what is this quintessence of dust?’ (2.2)
• ‘Man delights me not, nor woman neither’ (2.2)
• ‘O what a rogue and peasant slave am I!’ (2.2)
• ‘Yet I, a dull and muddy-mettled rascal… Am I a coward?’ (2.2)
• ‘I am pigeon-livered… what an ass am I’ (2.2)

Act 3

The mystery of death is something that plagues Hamlet throughout the play, he is confused, unsure and uncertain about what will happen when he dies. The question of his own death also plagues Hamlet in this act (especially in scene 1) as he repeatedly contemplates whether or not suicide is a morally legitimate action in a world that can be unbearably painful. In his famous ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy in Act 3 Scene 1, he asks the question: is it better to live or die, to endure suffering or to fight against it? This in turn induces melancholy for Hamlet as he frequently longs for death to end his suffering, but he fears that if he commits suicide, he will be subjected to eternal suffering in hell because of the Christianity’s prohibition of suicide. In addition, his melancholy is further caused by his lack of action against Claudius as a revenger, in this way, the themes of death and melancholy become intertwined with each other, going as far as one being the cause of the other. 

The burden of death also plagues Claudius, especially in Act 3 Scene 3, as he prays for forgiveness for the murder of Old Hamlet, while the promise of his own death literally hangs over his head as Hamlet tries to kill Claudius but eventually refrains. The fact that Claudius’ death will eventually come, is the momentum that drives the play along and Hamlet’s inaction to complete this task increases his melancholy.

Act 3 is also a good example of how in Hamlet death in the Elsinore court, has a ripple effect on many of the characters. Polonius’ death in Act 3 Scene 4 affects all the characters in many ways, some positive but mainly his death has negative effects, especially on Ophelia and Laertes, who are greatly changed by the death and his death indirectly, but inevitably leads to the death of many of the characters.

Key Quotes:

• ‘To be or not to be that is the question’ (3.1)
• ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer… or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them.’ (3.1)
• ‘Oh bosom black as death!’ (3.3)

Act 4

Act 4 is another example of how Hamlet’s own melancholy is very closely associated with the health and well-being of the state of Denmark; his sickness reflects that of the country and vice versa. Again, in Act 4 Scene 4, Hamlet’s melancholy is brought about as he reflects on the fact that he is unable to act, but others are able to give their lives for a cause that is insignificant. Hamlet says that “This is th’impostume of much wealth and peace”, his melancholia reflects that of the sickness that he talks about and until the sickness in Denmark is dealt with, his melancholy can also never leave him.

This act also shows Ophelia dealing with the theme of death in Act 4 Scene 5, as not only is she driven to mental breakdown by her father’s death but the songs she sings talk about death and loss; the literal loss of her father and the more figurative loss of her lover, Hamlet. Ophelia being driven to madness emphasises the true effect that death has upon the different characters in the play. In essence, Ophelia’s situation somewhat mirrors Hamlet’s as the death of their fathers, arguably drove them both to real madness or in Hamlet’s case heightened melancholia. 

However, another alternative explanation for Ophelia talking about death in her songs could refer to her sexuality, as death in Elizabethan literature, could also refer to sexual climax meaning that her references to death in this song could be an extended metaphor. Ultimately, Ophelia’s death is one that has lasting consequences and effects in the play as it inspires action and revenge, in some ways, it answers Hamlets earlier questions about whether it is better to live or die, as now that Ophelia is dead her suffering has been relieved and she can finally rest and be at peace, it could be said that her death, accident or suicide was merciful.

Key Quotes:

• ‘This is th’impostume of much wealth and peace.’ (4.4)
• ‘Go to their graves like beds.’ (4.4)
• ‘He is dead and gone’ (4.5)
• ‘For goodness, growing to a plurisy, dies in his own too much.’ (4.7)

Act 5

 Act 5 is the fruition of the idea that death inspires action as the melancholy within the characters disappears as the revenge among all the characters is fulfilled emphasising the strong link between the two themes. This act also shows Hamlet’s long emotional journey as his melancholy fades over time as he goes from the anxiety and melancholy of ‘to be or not to be’ in Act 3 Scene 1 to the simple acceptance of ‘let be’ in Act 5 Scene 2. It seems that Hamlet is ready to accept whatever fate has in store for him and his journey to acceptance of and readiness for death and the afterlife grows, in contrast to his melancholia which diminishes over the course of the play. For Claudius, death is a quick but painful downfall from power as he calls for his friends to save him, but no one answers as his only allies desert him in his greatest hour of need. Repeatedly throughout the play and in the previous scene, death is shown to humble people, which is essentially what has happened to Claudius as well as Laertes who forgives Hamlet. Overall, Act 5 shows death as a very central theme as all of the characters learn to cope with the inevitable as well as the uncertainties that come with death, as Shakespeare shows that no amount of youth, cunning, charm, wit and thought can spare anyone from death.

Key Quotes:

• Hamlet: ‘Let be.’ (5.2)
• Hamlet: ‘The readiness is all.’ (5.2)
• Claudius: ‘Oh yet defend me friends, I am but hurt.’ (5.2)
• Hamlet: ‘The rest is silence.’ (5.2)

• Clown: ‘if this had not been a gentlewoman, she should have been out o’ Christian burial’ (5.1)
• Hamlet: Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we make loam, and why of that loam whereto he was converted might they not stop a beer-barrel?’ (5.1)
• Hamlet: ‘what is he whose grief bears such an emphasis’ (5.1)
• Hamlet: ‘woo’t weep…woo’t tear thyself? Woo’t eat a crocodile?’ (5.1)

• Gertrude: ‘the drink’ x4 … ‘I am poisoned’ (5.2)
• Hamlet: ‘the potent poison quite o’ercrows my spirit’ (5.2)
• Clown: ‘she drowned herself wittingly’ (5.1)