In the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare, the protagonist, Hamlet, faces the trauma of the death of his father, who was the previous king of Denmark. After his father’s passing, Hamlet is challenged by having to deal with the new marriage between his mother Gertrude and his uncle Claudius, new knowledge that his uncle could have murdered his father, the responsibility of the avenging his father's death, his own self destructive suicidal thoughts, and the possibility of his own damnation. The two most severe of theses challenges are his suicidal thoughts and his possible damnation. Hamlet claims to be a Catholic, therefore, in accordance with his faith, the act or thought of sin leads you to Hell. Although he is knowledgeable of the fact that
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To die, to sleep-
To sleep, perchance to dream, Ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may …show more content…
The word “perchance” is the yellow light that many would recognize and hesitate to go through. Meaning ‘maybe’, this word brings uncertainty and discomfort because anything could result when faced the unknown. It is a natural instinct to fear what is not known and to stick with what is familiar, even if that familiarity is to suffer on earth. Although the idea of suicide sounds negative because of this fear of the unknown, Hamlet does not emote this same fear to the same degree as he believes other people do. This is shown in his word choice as he uses positively connoted words such as “dream” when speaking of suicide and negatively connoted words to describe life on earth such as “calamity”. To dream is favorable over a calamity and if the dream could turn negative, then the word nightmare would be more appropriate to use. With these words reflecting the emotions of Hamlet, the conclusion can be drawn that Hamlet feels as though suicide sounds like the best option of the ones being presented to him. However, suicide is a sin that leads to damnation, the very thing that Hamlet has been trying to avoid. As a Catholic, Hamlet should recognize that the Hell that he would face after committing suicide would be considerably worse than and “calamity” that he has faced on Earth. With this in mind the question of Hamlet’s true faith arises because
To die, to sleep-
To sleep, perchance to dream, Ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may …show more content…
The word “perchance” is the yellow light that many would recognize and hesitate to go through. Meaning ‘maybe’, this word brings uncertainty and discomfort because anything could result when faced the unknown. It is a natural instinct to fear what is not known and to stick with what is familiar, even if that familiarity is to suffer on earth. Although the idea of suicide sounds negative because of this fear of the unknown, Hamlet does not emote this same fear to the same degree as he believes other people do. This is shown in his word choice as he uses positively connoted words such as “dream” when speaking of suicide and negatively connoted words to describe life on earth such as “calamity”. To dream is favorable over a calamity and if the dream could turn negative, then the word nightmare would be more appropriate to use. With these words reflecting the emotions of Hamlet, the conclusion can be drawn that Hamlet feels as though suicide sounds like the best option of the ones being presented to him. However, suicide is a sin that leads to damnation, the very thing that Hamlet has been trying to avoid. As a Catholic, Hamlet should recognize that the Hell that he would face after committing suicide would be considerably worse than and “calamity” that he has faced on Earth. With this in mind the question of Hamlet’s true faith arises because