The Theme Of Mortality In Shakespeare's Hamlet

“To be, or not to be? That is the question...” (3.1.64)This is a line that many can recite off of the top of their head, but many of them might not know the context behind it. At that point in the story, Hamlet is questioning if he should live or take his own life; he is questioning his mortality. This moment in the story, and the fact that almost everyone involved in the progression of the plot dies should be reason enough to believe that mortality is a recurring theme in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Shakespeare’s tragedies often involve quite a bit of death. Whereas some ideas of a tragedy often involve the death of just the protagonist or a strong supporting character, Shakespeare makes the effort to kill off a lot more than just the protagonist. Death occurs in many of his plays, so mortality is obviously something that Shakespeare wanted his readers to be aware of. …show more content…
His father dies, he’ll soon be calling his uncle “Dad” and his friend is talking about royal ghosts going bump in the night, and Shakespeare conjures up ways for him to demonstrate his volatile state of mind. Take the death of Polonius for example. Why was he standing behind the curtain? Polonius is nosey, apparently, but why did that mean he had to die? His death was an accident, and his death plunged the apparently stab-happy Prince Hamlet further into madness; the method in which he died, along with Queen Gertrude’s accidental poisoning also served to prove that people can die for the most absurd