Grief in “Hamlet” Essay

grief is a universal emotion felt by every wiz at some point or an different du resonance the course of their lives. Its effects thr integrity be very divers(prenominal) and adverse, causing different mess to act in very different paths. It is very unpredictable because it is eccentric for each person, thus it is difficult to ease or change surface ascertain. It is accompanied by many other painful and confusing emotions and if non dealt with properly, it whitethorn prove to be cataclysmic. The theme of ruefulness is quite predominant throughout William Shakespe ars critical point, as virtu each(prenominal)y every character in the p sit experiences it. In fact, all of the main characters experience this emotion before the play is through. Grief has many causes and as a gist, many outcomes, scarce the unmatchable thing that remains the equivalent is that it has a toilsome effect on each person it touches.Grief is sometimes caused by feelings of guilt or remorse, and i n cases such as this, it affects the sufferer by ma major power the burden of guilt even more substantial. Oftentimes, feelings of guilty trouble are intensified by placing to a fault much(prenominal) blame on oneself. For example, Ophelia, who is being used by her witness draw and her king, tries to do what she thinks is best to help her love, Hamlet. She is told that this is the right thing to do, merely suffers as a result of doing it. Polonius and Claudius use her to spy on Hamlet, but when the plan miscarries, she is the one who feels most deject and wretched expression I that sucked the honey of his musicked vows (Hamlet, III, I, 169-170).Ophelia already feels bad for having to lie to Hamlet, but this negative feeling is amplified by the fact that she alone blames herself for what happens. Although Polonius seems heartless in using his miss in this situation, his grievous feelings may prove otherwise. He instructs his daughter non to see Hamlet, but if she must no n to respond to his love. This is because he thinks it would be bad for his maintenanceer, as the king does not like Hamlet. Nevertheless, Hamlet comes to her after seeing the ghost and truly frightens her. Being the conformable daughter that she is, she runs to her pay back, and he cannot help but feel in part creditworthy for not having protect her.He tells her that he was somewhat worried 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 instantaneously Ophelia is full of dread. Polonius reprimands himself for this, manifestation beshrew my jealousy (Hamlet, II, II, 124-126) He may not strike been able to foresee Hamlets actions toward his daughter, but he blames himself anyway, intensifying his feelings of sorrow oer what has happened to his daughter. Even the seemingly heartless all have hearts no matter how evil o ne may seem ones advised always manages to plague ones guilty soul and cause rue. Claudius, a man who dispatch his protest brother and stole his crown and wife, is a perfect illustration of this. Claudius finally has everything he valued but he cannot fully enjoy 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 painted word, says Claudius in an get to explain how this lie he has built up now weighs upon his shoulders, O heavy burden (Hamlet, III, I, 59-62) Claudius finds masking up lies and pushing them aside does not make them go away, it scarcely makes the angst they cause worse. Hamlet learns this lesson too, not because he is hiding a terrible secret, but because he volition not confront his fathers killinger or do what he must to exact his revenge. He thinks close to it too much and in doing so pushes his courage aside. However, his feeling of culpability c ontinues to cause him more and more grief as the situation progresses. After seeing Fortinbras leading his army to Poland 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 imminent death of xx thousand men / for a plot / Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause. (Hamlet, IV, IV, 59-66)He becomes so angry and guilty of his lack of action he even goes so far as to call himself a coward. This besides serves to amplify the misery he feels over the get through of his father and speedy marriage of his mother. All of these people have a reason to grieve and a reason to feel accountable, but altogether blaming themselves or dwelling on this remorse does nothing but deepen their grief.The death of a loved one also causes extreme grief, but in these cases, manypeople look to blame another for this misfortune. In turn, one may feel that the only way to relieve the negative feeli ngs is to seek 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 know who, that I, with wings a swift / As supposition or thoughts of love, / May sweep 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. Fortinbras, too, seeks revenge for his fathers death.However, unconnected Hamlet, he does not have a ghost to incite him, only thirty years of iniqu ity and anger toward the ruler of Denmark. He spends his full-page life trying to win back the land his father lost to the Danes, take vengeance for Old Fortinbras, and regain dignity for him and his people. When, finally, he storms the castle to assume the rear end 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 closely altogether forgotten as the Great Chain of Being is restored. The friendship that he has retaken all that his father lost in war provides him with satisfaction and appeases his soul. However, sometimes revenge is not about the soul, in fact, certain people must completely disregard it to seek their revenge. For example, Laertes, after tryout about the strange death of his father bursts into the castle to demand his revenge of Claudius.To hell, allegiance He vows, to the blackest devil / He dares eternal 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 go out have his revenge no matter what exit happen to him as a result. In his mind, his anger and scorn over the loss 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, as eagle-eyed as someone pays for this heinous crime. This shows just how much personal grief plays a role in their desire for revenge. All three 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 desired result is achieved, and as long as they feel better for having killed the person they choose, everything will be all right, or at least they hope so. True jurist is not an escaped thing to find, so they will settle for their own grief re lief.The emotions and thoughts that accompany grief can be extremely overwhelming. These innermost feelings of sorrow, anger, and confusion can push one to the brink of insanity and sometimes even encourage. After seeing the ghost of his father, and hearing that Claudius murdered him, Hamlet decides to display an antic magnetic inclination as a trap for his uncle. There are both arguments for his true 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 piteous in purport / As if he had been loosed out of hell / To speak of horrors he comes before her /And thrice his brain thus waving up and down, / He raised a sigh so piteous and profound / As it did seem to shatter all 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 bewil dered by the news granted 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 about him to believe he has lost his sanity. Laertes too suffers from a brief perish in sense after seeing what has become of his beloved sister. 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 flavour / Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye, (Hamlet, IV, V, 177-178) he cries aloud, displaying to all present his crazed roam of mind.He is already infuriated by the circumstancessurrounding his fathers death, and now this. It takes cracking effort from Claudius to finally calm him down and stop his thoughts of self-destruction. Because his emotions are so overwhelm ing, 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 marbles 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 on that point 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 poor 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 destroyed by the plethora of bad news she receives, so much that her rational mind is completely paralyzed and her mental faculties are truly lost. These three people feel grief so deep that their minds are put at great risk. Pathos is created for all three, because of their innocence in these situations and their inability to moderate 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 more or less 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 chimerically under griefs compelling influence. It can be so consuming that very muchtimes there is no room left for logical system in ones mind, so one acts without thinking. Hamlet does this in killing Polonius, who is hidden lav 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? (Ha mlet, III, IV, 31-32) because he is not really thinking when he commits this fatal 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 fury and wrath that he would cut his fathers killers throat i th church building (Hamlet, IV, VII, 144) something that he obviously would not do if he was thinking clearly. During the Elizabethan Era, revenge is a unremarkably respected notion, but to seek revenge in a church is certainly not regarded with the same esteem. Laertes would undoubtedly go to hell if he were to go through with this rash statement, something he would decide against if he were not so frenzied by grief. Horatio also b ecomes taken over by his anguish, watching the whole story unfold and witness its gruesome and bloody finish. Seeing his best friend wounded and death before his eyes makes Horatio more an Antique 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 troublesome 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 equated into the situation. Grief has the staggering 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 compunction 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. Some unfortunate individuals lose their wits due t o extreme emotional pain.Some 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 except 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 demonstrated 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 therefore must be dealt with, and it is how one deals with grief that determines how ones life will be affected by it.Works CitedShak espeare, William, Hamlet, (New York Washington Square Press, 1992)