How Does Shakespeare Present The Theme Of Death In Hamlet

Death is the action or fact of dying or being killed; the end of the life of a person. In the play of Hamlet, written by Shakespeare, the idea of death is very prevalent. Shakespeare is quite clearly trying to make a point or send a message to the audience or readers about the theme of death. This theme is particularly clear in the fifth and final act of the play Hamlet. In the fifth act alone, Hamlet, Claudius, and Gertrude all with be killed and thus Shakespeare shows the theme of death by killing off three of the main characters in the play. The idea of death is quite clear throughout the entire play, but it’s very prevalent in the final act and Mr. McGee has specifically asked us to write about the fifth act. Personally, I believe the theme of …show more content…
“Drink off this potion. Is thy union here? Follow my mother.” (Page 304, Lines 336-337, Act 5: Scene 2) Personally, this quote is one of the stronger ones in the entire play of Hamlet. It shows the audience and readers that Hamlet is so consumed in his revenge for his father’s death that he isn’t even remotely bothered by the fact that his mother just died in front of his own eyes. He has let the idea of killing Claudius completely obsess him throughout the entire play, and now the one person who he was trying to protect has died and he has absolutely no emotion towards it whatsoever. By this point in the play, you can clearly tell that Hamlet has gone completely mad and no longer has any sense of what is right and what is wrong. He allowed Claudius to ultimately murder his own mother on accident just so he would be able to murder Claudius. He easily could’ve stopped his mother from drinking the poison, but then he wouldn’t have been able to reveal the fact that Claudius is a murderer. If getting revenge by murdering someone is more important that your own mother’s life, the theme of death is very