Grief in “Hamlet” Essay

melancholy is a universal emotion felt by ein truth i at some point or a nonher during the course of their lives. Its government issueuate drive out be very diverse and adverse, causing different lot to guess in very different ways. It is very unpredictable beca handling it is peculiar for to each one somebody, thus it is difficult to ease or even ascertain. It is attended by more other painful and confusing emotions and if non dealt with properly, it whitethorn try on to be cataclysmic. The theme of mourning is quite prevalent passim William Shakespe ares village, as virtu yety every char deeder in the play experiences it. In fact, altogether of the main characters experience this emotion to begin with the play is through. Grief has many wooings and as a result, many unwrapcomes, notwithstanding the angiotensin converting enzyme thing that remains the same is that it has a hard effect on each person it touches.Grief is sometimes taked by feelings of delinqu ency or sorrow, and in cases such as this, it take ups the sufferer by make the burden of guilt even more substantial. Oftentimes, feelings of guilty wo are intensified by placing as well much blame on oneself. For example, Ophelia, who is organism used by her possess receive and her female monarch, tries to do what she thinks is lift out to suffice her love, sm tout ensemble town. She is told that this is the right thing to do, save suffers as a result of doing it. Polonius and Claudius use her to spy on village, save when the plan miscarries, she is the one who feels intimately demoralise and wretched saying I that sucked the honey of his musicked vows (Hamlet, III, I, 169-170).Ophelia already feels bad for having to lie to Hamlet, simply this negative feeling is amplified by the fact that she completely blames herself for what happens. Al grand pianogh Polonius seems he contrivanceless in using his daughter in this situation, his grievous feelings whitethorn prove otherwise. He instructs his daughter not to see Hamlet, yet if she must not to act to his love. This is because he thinks it would be bad for his career, as the king does not uniform Hamlet. Nevertheless, Hamlet comes to her aft(prenominal) see the weirdie and truly frightens her. Being the pliant daughter that she is, she runs to her fix, and he cannot help but feel in let out responsible for not having protected her.He tells her that he was somewhat hard-pressed for her to begin with and that He is sorry that with better heed and judgment / He had not coted Hamlet. He feared did but trifle / And meant to wrack her. Alas he was wrong, Hamlet does more thantrifle, and today Ophelia is full of dread. Polonius reprimands himself for this, saying beshrew my jealousy (Hamlet, II, II, 124-126) He may not assume been able to foresee Hamlets military actions toward his daughter, but he blames himself anyway, intensifying his feelings of grief over what has happened to his da ughter. Even the seemingly heartless all have hearts no matter how evil one may seem ones conscious always manages to plague ones guilty soul and cause grief. Claudius, a man who bump off his own brother and stole his crown and wife, is a perfect deterrent example of this. Claudius in conclusion has everything he expected but he cannot fully jazz it because of the guiltiness he feels.The harlots cheek beautied with plastring art / is not more ugly to the thing that helps it / Than is his deed to his most assorted word, says Claudius in an search to explain how this lie he has built up flat weighs upon his shoulders, O heavy burden (Hamlet, III, I, 59-62) Claudius finds covering up lies and thrust them aside does not make them go away, it lonesome(prenominal) makes the angst they cause worse. Hamlet learns this lesson too, not because he is hiding a terrible secret, but because he forget not confront his begets pop uper or do what he must to exact his revenge. He thinks close it too much and in doing so pushes his courage aside. However, his feeling of culpability continues to cause him more and more grief as the situation progresses. After seeing Fortinbras leading his army to Po stain with such charisma and vigour, he wondershow stands he then, he that has a father killed, a mother stained, / And let all sleep, while to his shame he sees / The at hand(predicate) oddment of twenty thousand men / for a plot / Whereon the numbers game cannot try the cause. (Hamlet, IV, IV, 59-66)He induces so angry and ashamed of his lack of action he even goes so far as to call himself a coward. This only serves to amplify the misery he feels over the murder of his father and speedy marriage of his mother. All of these people have a author to grieve and a reason to feel accountable, but completely blaming themselves or dwelling on this remorse does nada but deepen their grief.The death of a loved one in any case causes extreme grief, but in these cases, ma nypeople look to blame another for this misfortune. In turn, one may feel that the only way to relieve the negative feelings is to explore revenge and kill the person whom one blames for them. Hamlet clearly shows a deep love for his father, and he is utterly heart-broken over his death, especially after seeing his uncle take his place. Therefore, when his fathers ghost informs him that it is a murderer, not a snake, who is responsible for his death, Hamlet immediately responds Haste me to hit the hay who, that I, with locomote a swift / As meditation or thoughts of love, / May swing over to my revenge. (Hamlet, I, V, 35-37) He does not even know whom he has to kill yet, but he is already sure that he must avenge his father, no matter the cost. Hamlet is so lost without his father, he needs somewhere to place the blame for his death. Thus, when this opportunity arises he endeavours to seize it in an attempt to avenge his father, and alleviate his own heartache as well. Fortinbr as, too, seeks revenge for his fathers death.However, unlike Hamlet, he does not have a ghost to incite him, only thirty years of hatred and anger toward the linguistic rule of Denmark. He spends his unit sustenance trying to win back the land his father lost to the Danes, take vengeance for Old Fortinbras, and regain gravitas for him and his people. When, finally, he storms the rook to assume the throne and the rights of memory he has in this kingdom, / Which now to claim his vantage doth invite him, (Hamlet, V, II, 432-433) he can finally rest. His feelings of grief can be almost completely forgotten as the keen Chain of Being is restored. The knowledge that he has retaken all that his father lost in war provides him with satisfaction and appeases his soul. However, sometimes revenge is not close the soul, in fact, certain people must completely disregard it to seek their revenge. For example, Laertes, after audition about the strange death of his father bursts into the ca stle to demand his revenge of Claudius.To hell, allegiance He vows, to the blackest devil / He dares damnation saying to the king Let come what comes, only Ill be revenged / Most throughly for my father. (Hamlet, IV, V, 149-154) Evidently, Laertes cares nothing about the consequences of his actions. His grief is so strong that he will have his revenge no matter what will happen to him as a result. In his mind, his anger and scorn over the spillage of Polonius can only be assuaged when the person responsible for his death is also dead. Like Hamlet and Fortinbras, he does not care who he kills, aslong as someone pays for this heinous crime. This shows entirely how much personal grief plays a role in their desire for revenge. All ternary men want to kill someone, but none are sure who it is that they must kill when they make the decision to become assassins. As long as the coveted result is achieved, and as long as they feel better for having killed the person they choose, everythi ng will be all right, or at least they forecast so. True evaluator is not an easy thing to find, so they will settle for their own grief relief.The emotions and thoughts that accompany grief can be extremely overwhelming. These innermost feelings of sorrow, anger, and confusion can push one to the edge of insanity and sometimes even further. After seeing the ghost of his father, and hearing that Claudius murdered him, Hamlet decides to display an antic disposition as a trap for his uncle. There are both arguments for his straightforward madness and against it, but either way the case is proved, Hamlet acts exceedingly abnormally. His sorrow drives him to act as though he is mad. According to Opheliaas she was sewing in her closet / Lord Hamlet / With a look so base in purport / As if he had been loosed out of hell / To announce of horrors he comes before her /And thrice his head thus waving up and down, / He raised a sigh so piteous and profound / As it did seem to shatter al l his bulk / And end his being. (Hamlet, II, I, 87-108)Whether Hamlet planned an antic disposition or not, he must be very shocked and bewildered by the news given to him by the ghost, and this outburst with Ophelia is clear proof of this. His woe almost triggers him to go whole mad, causing everyone around him to believe he has lost his sanity. Laertes too suffers from a brief supervising in sense after seeing what has become of his beloved baby. Ophelia does not remember who Laertes is when he returns from France, but speaks to him as though he is someone else. Laertes is astonished, he cannot believe this he lost a father while in France, and now that he is returned, he loses his sister to madness. O heat, dry up my brains Tears seven times brininess / Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye, (Hamlet, IV, V, 177-178) he cries aloud, displaying to all present his crazed frame of mind.He is already infuriated by the circumstancessurrounding his fathers death, and now this. It takes great essay from Claudius to finally calm him down and stop his thoughts of self-destruction. Because his emotions are so overwhelming, he seems to lose the will to live, if only for a short while. Ophelia, the primary cause of Laertes near madness, also seems to lose her will to live. She loses her wits due to many reasons, mainly her fathers death at the hands of her true love. Consequently, she is completely unable to restore order to her fragile mind. She babbles and sings mindlessly, and hands out flowers that are not really in that location to the king, queen, and her brother. She is driven completely berserk with grief, so crazy that she drowns shortly afterward. As Gertrude recountsshe chanted snatches of old lauds, / As one incapable of her own distress / Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, / Pulled the brusk wretch from her melodious lay / To muddy death,(Hamlet, IV, VII, 202-208) telling her audience just how lunatic this pitiable girl is at the time of her death. Ophelia is totally destruct by the plethora of bad news she receives, so much that her sagacious mind is completely paralyzed and her psychic faculties are truly lost. These three people feel grief so deeply that their minds are gift at great risk. Pathos is created for all three, because of their innocence in these situations and their inability to control what has happened to them. They are victims, for the most part, of the malicious act going on around them, and the grief they feel because of this nearly drives each of them past their mental limits.Because grief is so overwhelming, it may cause people to do things they would not usually do. Many people act quite irrationally to a lower place griefs powerful influence. It can be so consuming that oftentimes there is no room left for logic in ones mind, so one acts without thinking. Hamlet does this in kill Polonius, who is hidden behind the arras. He stabs through the curtain before he even finds out who is concealed within it. When Gertrude questions Hamlet O me, what hast thou done? he can only reply Nay, I know not, is it the king? (Hamlet, III, IV, 31-32) because he is not really thinking when he commits this black-market crime. Hamlet is a strong-minded person and is able to control his emotions for the most part. However, the added grief of his current quarrel with his mother seems to cause a lapse injudgment which in turn makes Hamlet do something that is very grave indeed, commit murder. Laertes, too, decides that murder is not out of the question when he allows his pain to consume him.In fact, Laertes is so caught up in his pettishness and wrath that he would cut his fathers killers throat i th church (Hamlet, IV, VII, 144) something that he obviously would not do if he was thinking clearly. During the Elizabethan Era, revenge is a commonly respected notion, but to seek revenge in a church is certainly not regarded with the same esteem. Laertes would undoubtedly go to hell i f he were to go through with this foolhardy statement, something he would decide against if he were not so frenzied by grief. Horatio also becomes taken over by his anguish, watching the whole story unfold and witness its gruesome and bloody finish. Seeing his best friend wounded and dying before his eyes makes Horatio more an demode Roman than a Dane and he is about to take his own life proclaiming, heres yet some liquid left (Hamlet, V, II, 374-375).Nevertheless, Hamlet, who is finally free of his grief and now thinking clearly, takes the cup and saves his companion. When ones mind is full of grief it is very hard to think about anything else, like the good things in life or any reasons there may be to continue on living as usual. It is also difficult to foresee the consequences of ones actions, or, moreover, to care about them because grief clouds the mind so. Many things that one would typically not even be able to conceive doing become viable possibilities, when grief is equ ated into the situation. Grief has the stagger ability to cause almost anyone to perform acts that one will surely regret later, making it a very dangerous emotion.Grief affects each person differently because each person possesses their own causes for grief and their own mechanisms with which to deal with it. When one is grieving because of guilt over past mistakes or a personal loss, one most often blames themselves wholly. This makes the guilt worse, and in turn misery only grows stronger and stronger. It is a vicious cycle of remorse and repentance that is difficult to stop once it is begun. Grief is also caused by losing someone that is very dearly loved. To the griever, revenge often seems like the only way to find release from this mourning. Most find that it is not justice they seek, but refuge, from the heavy feelings of sorrow and anger, which they believe they can find in the death of theperson responsible for this grief. These feelings of regret and resentment, caused by angst, often prove to be quite overpowering and sometimes too much to bear. virtually unfortunate individuals lose their wits due to extreme emotional pain. around go further and lose their will to subsist, even further still, their lives. Grief also has the ability to fully envelop a persons mind and take away their ability to think about anything unpack for what they are feeling at the moment. It may cause the person to act in a way they are not accustomed to or to do something they would never dream of doing in any other circumstance. It can be very dangerous, in that it can cause one to do things that are absolutely irrational and devastating to oneself or others. As is show in the play, the effects of grief vary greatly, but to all whom they affect they are profoundly detrimental and destructive. Grief can cause the loss of ones mirth in life, the incitation to do something rash and ill advised, even the key to ones undoing. In all cases grief is difficult to avoid, and th erefore must be dealt with, and it is how one deals with grief that determines how ones life will be affected by it.Works CitedShakespeare, William, Hamlet, (New York Washington Square Press, 1992)