In act three of Hamlet uses the quote “To be or not to be” This quote
means to be alive or to be dead. In this act Hamlet is going through a lot of
emotions. He talks about dying to just sleep forever and not have to feel
any of these emotions. At first he believes that, that is his best option but
then he starts to talk about how he is unsure of what happens after you die
so it is also scary to die. In this section Hamlet is going through a lot and is
debating between life or death. Hamlet is feeling this way because of the
amount of trauma that he went through. I feel like back then people didn’t
think of depression as a big thing but nowadays this would be looked at
way different. What Hamlet is going through in this section happens a lot
now in the modern day. Hamlet was written around 1600 so the way people
look at depression and the signs of someone having depression have
changed a lot. Everyone seems to look at Hamlet differently because of his
signs of depression. Hamlet began to feel all of these emotions after the
passing of his father then seeing his fathers ghost after his death. His
fathers ghost tells him that Claduios poisoned him and murdered him and
that he should avenge his father because of this. This happening to Hamlet
really confuses him and makes him want to tell someone. He ends up
telling his closest friend Horatio, Horatio believes he is crazy. He thinks that
Hamlet is just delusional after his fathers passing. He constantly asks
himself lots of questions on what he should do with his life. An article that I
read says “Hamlet has continued to debate with himself whether he should
kill Claudius to avenge his father. He also wonders whether it might be
preferable to kill himself—this would allow him to escape his own “sea of
troubles” and the “slings and arrows” of life.” This quote just shows all of
the questions that Hamlet is asking himself and what he thinks he should
do either seek revenge for his father or kill himself but both choses make
him nervous.
Hamlet’s emotions are a big part of this book. He continues to show
many signs of depression throughout. In act 1, scene 2, “Hamlet’s anguish
is so great that he wishes he could just melt away to nothing and that
suicide were not against the law of God. He goes on to describe the world
in terms that highlight his apathy and hopelessness:
O that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d
His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on’t! ah, fie! ‘Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely.”
Hamlet does not want to deal with his life anymore at this point and just
wants to melt away as the article says. Hamlet shows signs of clinical
depression even though his father just passed. He cannot get the thoughts
of suicide or being sad all the time.
In conclusion Hamlet was not insane or a villain he was just going
through a lot of emotions from the passing of his father. Everyone looked at
him differently because of the signs of depression. If Hamlet had some
mental health help during his life, if they did that back then I think that
would have completely changed the way he looked at his life.
Works Cited
“Depression in Hamlet – Video & Lesson Transcript.” Study.com,
study.com/academy/lesson/depression-in-hamlet.html.
Muniz, Hannah. “To Be or Not to Be: Analyzing Hamlet’s Soliloquy.”
Blog.prepscholar.com, 9 Dec. 2019, blog.prepscholar.com/to-be-or-
not-to-be-soliloquy.
“To Be, or Not to Be from Hamlet.” Poem Analysis, 4 May 2021,
poemanalysis.com/william-shakespeare/to-be-or-not-to-be/.
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