I sense some suicidal tendencies arising upon Hamlet. So in
Act 1, Hamlet ends the act by being completely confident in his sudden urge to
revenge back upon the uncle. That act is filled with haste and anger. However,
at the end of Act 2, Hamlet is not so sure of himself anymore and his
intentions. He seems cautious at the end as he wonders if his soul is possessed
by the Devil and if he should let the uncle’s conscience come out by making him
watch the play, which would resemble his father’s death.
Moreover, Hamlet many times throughout the play has made
references to death. Not just the death of his father, but also his own death.
Just as he replies sarcastically to Polonius questioning him if he shall go “into
(his) own grave”. Or when she mentions that humanity is nothing more than dust
to him and he has lost all purpose and hope. To him the beautiful things in
life seem to appear black and white and he mentions them looing nothing more
than a pestilent filled air. Therefore, the motif of death seems to appear
often times around Hamlet’s speeches and in the play as a whole.
This leads me to conclude that Hamlet might possibly commit
suicide by the end of the play. He seems to be losing his state of mind by the
end of Act 2. His once confident soul seems to lately be degrading as he begins
to question his own identity and his own purpose. The fact that Hamlet
questions on if the Devil is really inside of him making him do these things
and think in such ways, shows that he is becoming less and less confident in
his own identity. So this leads me to question if he will take revenge on his
uncle and then kill himself because his conscience will slowly be killing him? Or
will he just commit suicide before killing his uncle, because his soul would
not be able to handle the scene of the murder and his own mind will not be able
to handle it? How will his mother feel if her own son commits suicide just
because her new lover came around and killed Hamlet’s father? Will that cause
her to commit suicide herself because then she will not be able to handle all
the stress that has occurred in her family? Many questions are left yet
unanswered.
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