Suicide In Hamlet

The theme of death can be found in William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. During this play we see that human life is full of pain. Abuse from authority, insults from arrogant men, the hurt of unreturned love, the lack of justice in the legal system, the lack of care from those in office, and the general mistreatment of good people, make the world seem unfit to stay on. When humans are capable of committing suicide, what makes them choose to continue living? Throughout the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare explains that despite being capable of suicide, most humans choose to live because of religious convictions, an inability to have a Christian burial and the uncertainty of death. There is a religious element added to why despite being capable of committing suicide, most humans chose to live. During Shakespeare’s day, it was a well known fact that suicide was a sin. In Hamlet’s first soliloquy in Act I, Scene II, Hamlet wishes that God had not made a law against suicide because Hamlet found life to be pointless. Since suicide was sin, it was understood that it would be punished in the after-life. William Shakespeare can not say for sure what the punishment will be for sure, …show more content…
In Act V, Scene I, we learn of some of the rituals involved in the burial of a Christian. These rituals included dressing the deceased up like a pure virgin, having flowers tossed on the grave, ringing a bell, reading prayers, and singing a requiem. However, because Ophelia committed suicide, we learned that people who took their own lives were not buried in this manner. When people took their own lives, they were buried outside of the church graveyard and had rocks and stones thrown on top of their body. Even being rich was not enough to afford all the rites to a Christian burial if the cause of death was found to be