written – B. M. Barry

Existence, the one truly perfect gift from God. Everyday, a new way to continue living life and another to plan it out. Some people, though, question the sunrise in the morning and the moon glow at night. It is not uncommon for people to wonder what it all means. Information presented in this society has become overwhelming not just in quantity but negativity. It is undeniable that in the fate of this world, and in the fate of all men, that the absurd idea of suicide has entered and lingered in many of minds throughout the history of humans as a whole. Dark in essence, and somewhat taboo (which realistically, and honestly, discredits the ideas and values behind suicide), it’s all too prevalent in our society. The character, Hamlet, from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, is undoubtedly one of millions of people throughout history who has contemplated, and been given the opportunity to take his own life. 

At the point in Danish history when Hamlet is set, the Kingdom of Denmark had recently gone through a very large religious change. In the early 1500’s a law student found himself in perhaps the worst thunderstorm he ever experienced. Despite being one the most prospering students of law, that thunderstorm changed his life. “Besieged by the terror and agony of sudden death”, (Hillerbrand, par. 3), this man, Martin Luther, decided to change from law school to the school of theocracy. That violent thunderstorm near his village had scared him so badly, Luther swore to become a monk if he survived the ordeal.  It was not long before he excelled and brewed new ideals for the church in Rome, and a great reformation occurred across Europe, for Luther had rewrote the book of the old Testament, paving the way for protestantism. This information may not mean much to the average reader, but with a new formation of a religion, means another adaptation of the Bible. When religious ideals change, many people fall victim to being stuck in the transition of such belief, and become more self aware of life than could be thought. If a religion is to so quickly be rewritten, what does that say about all one has learned about life and death so far? 

Although existentialism was not a philosophy yet for the time period (and wouldn’t be for another 400 years) throughout history, the question of existence has, well, existed. This was mostly resolved using the combination of church and state. People had to believe in god, and studying the bible was part of anyone else’s life. At the time of Hamlet, we find Denmark in a time of religious rewiring mentioned earlier, and this too can play into the fact that Hamlet starts to become godless, questioning his own religion or beliefs. and almost shames god, being upset that he forbids the slaying of one’s own body and soul. Hamlet is left to ruminate in his thoughts (Camus). At this time in Hamlet’s life, he is reaching his middle age.  It is a very important time in many men’s (and women’s) lives, when it’s time to reflect on your coming up, and where to go now. Camus says that once a man or woman notices they are 30 years of age, where one must assert their youth whilst planting themselves in their current time. The person will make themselves their own worst enemies. 

After deep diving into the book of Hamlet, and his timeline (and his life overall, for he is now reaching his mid-life crisis years), it’s almost natural, if not instinct for him to be battling thoughts of suicide, and faces that existential dread which has now become so prevalent in his life. Those around him; loved ones, perish, at the hands of murder or suicide, and the kingdom he so wanted to save ends up being left in turmoil. Hamlet begins to wonder what his role is in this kingdom, to be exiled forever, to enact revenge and take back what’s his by blood, or to not become what he sought to destroy, King Claudius. His mind is lost in the sauce, his existentialism and his thoughts of suicide inevitably lead Hamlet to his downfall and perhaps the kingdom’s downfall as well. 

Hamlet, upon hearing the news of his father’s murder, has a moment of realization, and a bit of a manic episode. He has become overwhelmed in grief and unbeknownst of what to do next. He begins to speak, thus begins the first soliloquy of the play. Immediately the audience is thrown into Hamlet’s newfound existential wonder and dread. 

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! (Hamlet 1.1.2) 

Hamlet, ponders, or dances around the ideas of suicide. The “everlasting”, being God, forbids “self-slaughter”, or else Hamlet would cast himself into the eternal darkness at the mercy of his own hands. This speaking  all too closely relates to the ideas of existentialism. His disgust for his own flesh, is absurd as philosopher Albert Camus, who was one of the more modern existentialist, and self proclaimed “absurdist”, discusses in his 1942 essay The Myth of Sisyphus, which discusses the absurdity of life and suicide. Providing evidence as to where these feelings come from, more specifically in men, and as much as I remember, Hamlet is a man. “That revolt of the flesh is absurd” (Camus, 14). This quote, by Camus, stands out, for it all too well falls into relation with this speech by Hamlet, for he hates his own flesh, “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt”, and by those standards, it is absurd to hate your own flesh, the vessel that carries you in the physical realm.  

By the end of the book we find Hamlet almost a shell of a prince in his situation. After the famous to be or not to be speech, it seems Hamlet has almost resigned to his fate, whatever it may be. It’s not unusual to hear of or witness Hamlet type tales in the modern world, and it all relates too well to today’s standards -. To this day suicide is still a very large problem, with rates in America increasing to the highest it has ever been since the great recession in 1929 (NIH). Suicide, and self destrutctive behavior overall, is built into the human psyche, the absurd idea that one day someone could take that step off the ledge, and let their flesh melt into a dew. 

Perhaps the most famous Shakespare soliloquy best explains Hamlet’s lust for death, and his climactic internal resolution as the existentialist. We find Hamlet alone, in the beginning of the third act. He has been sent away, banished from his kingdom. again he begins to question the frugality of life, seemingly resolution in his death, whenever it may be, and accepting that it must happen. 

Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;

To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub:

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause—there’s the respect

That makes calamity of so long life. (Hamlet 3.1)

Comparing death to sleep is a form of coping with the existential dread, accepting death. Hamlet is not decided, for “the rub” is the issue at hand in his mind. Hamlet believes that only now shall death bring him eternal sleep, and or eternal peace. Where he can dream up all of his imaginations, and no longer be attached to the mortal coil of his body and of the earth. In the final scene Hamlet enacts his endgame and the death of his mother, Laertius, and the incestuous king Claudius, the man who Hamlet had sworn to kill in order to avenge his father, ensues. Poison, meant for Hamlet to drink, consumed by his mother to save him, and the blade meant to poison him, turned on Laertius. The poison is then drunk by Claudius at the blade of Hamlet, and Hamlet succumbing to his poison sounds in the arms of Horatio. 

Hamlet dies, at last, and his spirit is free to dream for all of eternity, the death of his father avenged, yet at what cost? The death of his father sent him into an undeniable spiral, for all that seemed right in Denmark had turned rotten, and Hamlet was left to decide what was next. To kill himself is against god, to kill others is against god. Hamlet gets the death he wants, and kills Claudius in the act, forcing him to drink at his own hand. Hamlet can die at peace, and his existential dread can no longer be, for the flesh he had wound it, now shall melt into dew. 

Works Cited

Beville, Jack. “The Philosophy of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”” Medium, 22 May 2020, medium.com/@jack.beville/the-philosophy-of-shakespeares-hamlet-1cef50b02199#:~:text=Camus. Accessed 1 Mar. 2024.

Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays. 1942. Vintage, 31 Oct. 2012.

Hillerbrand, Hans J. “Lutheranism | Definition, Beliefs, History, & Facts.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 15 Nov. 2018, http://www.britannica.com/topic/Lutheranism.

—. “Martin Luther – Diet of Worms.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 14 Feb. 2019, http://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther/Diet-of-Worms. Accessed 1 Apr. 2024.

“His explanation for his abrupt change of heart was that a violent thunderstorm near the village of Stotternheim had terrified him to such a degree that he involuntarily vowed to become a monk if he survived… besieged by the terror and agony of sudden death,” .

National Institute of Mental Health . “Suicide – National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).” Www.nimh.nih.gov, Feb. 2024, http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/suicide#:~:text=100%2C000%20in%202020.-.

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. William Shakespeare, 1603.

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Reformation | History, Summary, & Reformers.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 8 Feb. 2019, http://www.britannica.com/event/Reformation. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.