Hamlets inexplicable fascination with death Essay

Hamlets inexplicable fascination with death - Essay Example An in-depth analysis of Hamlet’s character speaks of the fact that pathological obsession with death is one of many complex patterns of Hamlet’s psyche. This pattern will be scrutinized at-length in the following discussion to prove this argument that Hamlet’s relationship with and his attitudes towards death throughout the play an important role in destroying his reputation as a person of high social standing. If Hamlet’ action is explored in relation to death, many important aspects of the play get unraveled. This subject is very intense and open to multiple interpretations on a perceptual level due to which it is selected for this essay to be analyzed. It is worth-mentioning here that one of the most conspicuous themes of this Shakespearean tragedy is death which is evident in the way this theme interestingly influences the leading male character, the prince of Denmark. His relationship with death since the beginning of the play is very out of the ordin ary and exceptionally odd. As the story progresses, this relationship starts bordering on insanity which is why critics describe the way Hamlet reacts to death a rare experience which people do not get to witness commonly in the real world. It is claimed that â€Å"the most extraordinary of Hamlet’s universal aspects is his relationship to death† (Bloom 6). He is described as extraordinary not only because right after the news of his father’s death reaches him, he becomes filled with emotions of rage and revenge. Rather, the aspect of his personality which compels one to raise one’s eyebrows and question the equanimity of this hero is the way he becomes hopelessly interested in death on many other levels. He becomes passionate about ghosts too and develops an urge to know what happens after a person dies, how the bodies decay once buried etc. Despite being a person of high social standing and required to stay levelheaded to be an example to his people, he instead he becomes literally obsessed with the idea of death. This obsession is born first when the death of his beloved father is revealed to him by his friend Horatio. Before killing Claudius, Hamlet attempts to familiarize himself with ghosts, which speaks of his fascination for the subject of death. Instead of developing interest in other tasks to be identified as a good leader, he instead sets on finding about the reality of ghosts to know if they really live in the world after death of a person or not. He contemplates the idea of death from many perspectives which demonstrates the gradual and worrisome development of a pathological behavior which turns out to have enormous repercussions as the story unfolds. Hamlet ponders about death from a spiritual perspective when he becomes captivated by the idea of ghosts and explores it. Instead of acknowledging the concerned advances of other people who are true to him like Gertrude, he perceives them as potential antagonists preferri ng instead to look on to death as a definite solution to all his emotional and psychological problems. Little does he know that death is not the solution, but actually the driver of his gradual psychological downfall. When interpreting the enthralling idea of death on multiple levels, he is singularly most