Discuss Hamlet’s attitude to death and the afterlife Essay

critical point a increase of Shakespearean cartridge clips has a diverse view on finis, the later on tone and the divinity of the monarchy to any person today. E genuinely whiz in the Elizabethan and Jacobean era believed that there was an afterlife. Every wiz believed in God, in witches, fairies and in soupcons. No one saw the dichotomy betwixt their varied beliefs as we do today. hamlet, as a leave behind of the time in which he was raised, had a very complex military position towards life and death. This was due to his phantasmlike beliefs and his rudimentary morality. Although hamlet has reasonably strong religious beliefs, he similarly lived life in the post- renaissance way.The Renaissance era give expression to that there was, more to life than trust and although religion should not be discarded, new(prenominal) things should be considered. Hamlet is a normal post-renaissance drama, with several plots interlacing frequently, to produce a complex composi tion giving nub through contrast rather than anthesis each scourt in a single sequence. All the plots involve shares having to gobble up other characters for one reason or another. For example Claudius plots to wipe protrude Hamlet, and Hamlet plots to slaughter Claudius.It is through Hamlets unrest close whether or not to execute Claudius that his views on religion and the supernatural depend. Although Hamlet wants to fling off Claudius, he is pr blushted from doing so by his religious belief that God gives you life, thus you perplex no right to labor either your own life of that of another. This is also the reason why Hamlet cannot kill himself. When Hamlet put one acrosss Claudius trying to pray, he has a perfect opportunity to kill him simply he does not, due once once again to the contemporary beliefs about(predicate) death and the afterlife.He believes that if he kills Claudius whilst he is praying his soul exit go straight to paradise even though he kill ed gray-haired Hamlet. Claudius prayers humble that he is in a landed estate of perfect grace, with all his sins forgiven, so therefore, he exit go to Heaven. Hamlet manifestly does not want this. His develop is force to remain in purgatory and to suffer the miserableness of wandering the earth night after night because Claudius killed him while he was quiescence and unable to seek redemption.It is not impress therefore, that Hamlet does not want his step pay off to look at the happy ending his father never got. As John Russel Brown says 1Within Hamlet, Shakespeare has created a virtuoso who is compelled impulsively to seek and exact strike back and yet lives in a universe created by an all-seeing all powerful, and merciful God. When Hamlet kills Polonius, he sees himself as Heavens whip and minister, as if his violent and instinctive reception had been in accordance with Gods give. such(prenominal)(prenominal) references to stay puther with various calls upon Go d or Heavenly powers, remind an audience of catch moral judgements that call for repentance and kindness or for punishment. They mark the play as contemporary, not belonging to a pre-Christian Denmark, and attend that Hamlets progress in retaliate does not move him altogether from customary judgements even though he believes he could drink hot roue and envisions evil spreading throughout the world. wherefore here Hamlet is showing that although he is a good Christian follower, he seeks revenge for the murder of his father.Laertes, another character to lose his father and his sister, who are some(prenominal) related to Hamlet in one way or another, deals with his feelings for seeking revenge in a very divergent way to Hamlet. Although at first Laertes believes that Claudius killed his father, his reaction to his fathers death differs greatly. Laertes does not care about morals very much To hell, allegiance Vows, to the blackest devil conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit He is prepared to go to Hell to get revenge for his fathers death. He then continues to say. I dare damnation.To this point I stand. That both the worlds give to negligence, let come what comes altogether Ill be revengd, Most throughly for my father. Laertes is saw that he does not care what the consequences are, he will seek revenge even if he has to damn his soul to get it. Laertes decides that he will murder Hamlet, by poisoning the dagger he will be fighting him with. This, he knows, will definitely lead to Hamlets death. Laertes makes a decisiveness and sticks with it, unlike Hamlet who is considered insane roughly the time he is thinking about killing Claudius.Hamlet is even considering pickings his own life therefore Laertes would appear to be the more stable of the two. However, much of Hamlets procrastination lies in the incident that he intellectualizes the moral issues twisting in life and death, good and evil. twain characters end up with the same passel dea th. Laertes be vexs like a typical poor boy of a revenge tragedy, rushing rashly into revenge and his own death without pausing to see the consequences of his actions. When old Hamlet appears, Hamlet questions whether or not to believe it is his father.Hamlet is in a very emotional state, he is thinking of suicide due to his fathers death, and now he has appeared onward him, it is little wonder that he is agitate up. Hamlets indecisiveness as to whether the ghost is really his father, is seen when he says Ill call thee Hamlet, King Father, royal Dane, until he hears otherwise. He is wary because it was believed at the time that ghosts brought evil and were not good however, because the ghost so resembles his father and because Hamlet mourns him, he is prepared to believe that it is an honest ghost.The ghost confirms his identity, to Hamlet by saying I am thy Fathers spirit, doomsdayd for a certain bourne to walk the night, And for the day confind to solid in fires, Till the foul crimes do in my days of nature ar burnt and purgd out-of-door. Once again, the audience learns something about Jacobean religious views and beliefs. Old Hamlet is sexual relation us that due his being remove so quickly, he did not have time to repent his sins, and therefore he is stuck in purgatory the place between Heaven and Hell until God forgives them.However Hamlet and Horatio are both men with racy academic achievements, and both scholars, therefore it would be unlikely they would imagine such a thing. Both of them see the ghost on the battlement as do Barnado, Francisco and also Marcellus who sees its appearance as a residence that something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Although Gertrude never sees the Ghost, its validity and existence is proven by the fact that both Hamlet and Horatio have seen it.2 The fact that Gertrude has an inability to see the Ghost might suggest the fact that she had nothing to do with the murder of old Hamlet or that she is alike abruptly to see it an idea born out by her insensitively speedy conjugation to Claudius. This also appears to be the case in MACBETH another of Shakespeares plays, in the bedcover scene, when the guilty Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo but no one else does. As a result of the information Hamlet receives from his father about his death, and his mothers behavior, Hamlet feels that life in Denmark is worthless.He feels now with the death of his father, and the incestuous he feels relationship between his mother and Claudius, that his life is also unimportant and worthless thus he discusses committing suicide. O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, thaw, and finalize itself into a dew. He then describes how agitated he is that his father was only dead a month when his mother got marry to Claudius, and how he must hold his tongue. In spite of this he cannot kill himself because God gave him his life, therefore he has no right to take it. The Everlasting has set(p) / His can on gainst self-slaughter.