Hamlet
.... How the knave jowls it to the ground, as if `twere Cain’s jawbone, that did the first murder! This might be the pate of a politician, which this ass now overreaches, one that would 1 circumvent God, might it not?” Hamlet’s obsession with death is made very clear in this section of the play. He is fascinated by the fact that something once living and breathing, no matter how powerful, will always end up as nothing more than dust. There is something rather disturbing about the fact that life seems to revolve around death for Hamlet. In scene two of Act V death is surrounding Hamlet. Earlier in the play Hamlet kills Polonius, who is the father of Laertes and Hamlet’s old love Ophelia, when acting on an impulse. Ophelia is grief stricken at the news and dies drowning in a river. After killing Polonius Claudius ships Hamlet off to England where the plan is for him to be put to death. This plan fails and Hamlet ends up back in Denmark. So Claudius then comes up with a new plan to use Laertes’ desire for revenge to secure Hamlet’s death. A fencing match between Laertes and Hamlet is set up and its sole purpose is to kill off Hamlet for good. Yet, when Hamlet is warned about the match by his friend Horatio, he ignores his bad feelings. “I shall win at the odds. But thou wouldst not think how ill all’s here about my heart. But it is no matter.” Hamlet seems to accept whatever bad thing is coming his way. It is not just anything that Hamlet is prepared for, he is ready for death. It is interesting then how Hamlet seeks forgiveness from Laertes, almost as if he knows what is to come and is trying to gain reconciliation before he dies. “Give me your pardon, sir. I have done you wrong, But pardon’t as you are a gentleman.” Hamlet says to Laertes, “Let my disclaiming from a 2 purposed evil free me so far in your most generous thoughts that I have shot my arrow o’er the house and hurt my brother.” This displays the affect that death has over Hamlet. He is tying up loose ends before it is too late. The conclusion of the play revolves around murders and suicide. Laertes, Claudius, Hamlet’s mother, and Hamlet each end up dead by poison or stabbing. Hamlet was finally able to avenge his father’s death. Yet, at the same time it is Laertes’s need to avenge the death of his father that leads to Hamlet’s death. Although Hamlet was at peace with death, it is still sad. Hamlet dies as a very lonely person. He has hardly any friends, his family plotted...