"To Be or Not to Be"

To be or not to be? Perhaps one of the most famous lines from the Skakespearean times. Hamlet gives his soliloquy, as it appears to me, in a depressed suicidal mood. He mentions things such as “mind to suffer” and “to die to sleep” is in a way mentioning that he does not see the point in suffering in this world anymore. “That flesh is heir to?” He questions himself and later mentions “for who would bear the whips and scorns of time”. The scorns could represent the bad sins that occurred in Hamlets life. By whips he might mean that he will take revenge on his uncle and get him back for killing his dear father.

As soon as Ophelia comes in, she acts cold and returns the “remembrances” to Hamlet. He then switches his mood around and tells her that he never loved her, in attempt to make her mad. She tries to pretend that she does not care, because her father is watching her, but deep down she is heartbroken. At this point the audience is not sure whether Hamlet knows that he was being watched or if he doesn’t. He does ask “where is your father?”, but maybe he only does it to be sarcastic, or perhaps he really is curious. According to my group’s version, he is not aware at all and therefore does ask with a mere concern. Later, Ophelia sort of has a soliloquy in a way as she expresses her own thoughts in a sad depressed manner. Perhaps Ophelia is so depressed because she has been used by almost everybody. Hamlet might use her to make her look bad in front of her own father so that her father would get mad. Her father might use her to “do her duty”, but in reality he is only trying to make Hamlet suffer. What will become of Ophelia? Will she commit suicide herself or was her speech just a cover up in front of her father to make him feel sorry for her, because Hamlet insulted her so that way her father would get even madder at Hamlet and perhaps kill him. Now what will become of Hamlet? Will he eventually take revenge or will he just end up killing himself? Is his “to be or not to be” speech a sign of revenge or a sign of suicide? He could act or not act, as in take revenge or not take revenge. Will we not find out until the very last scene because this is honestly killing me!?

Possible Tendencies of Suicide?

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.