#8217;s soliloquies and physical actions also involve the idea of death, and the deeds of killing, which lead to death. In Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy, he contemplates death at a higher level of intensity than showed before. He questions death, life, mankind, god, love, and other troubles he is faced with. “To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them? To die, to sleep—no more…for in that sleep of death what dreams may come” (III, ii, 56-60,66) Hamlet’s wanting to commit suicide is so intense, that Shakespeare wants the audience to know that if Hamlet was not scared of the after-life he would have done away with himself right here. The physical element of death that is within the play besides his father’s ghost is when Hamlet kills Polonious. When Hamlet kills Polonious, and realizes whom it is he has killed, he shows no remorse for the deed he has just done. “Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell! I took thee for thy better.” (III, iv, 31-32)It is ironic that Hamlet kills Polonious and leaves his son Laertes in the same situation as his own. He has now caused death, by trying to avenge his father’s death, because he thought it was Claudius behind the curtain. The killing of Polonious probably had some effect on Hamlet, but none that we can actually see. In addition, Hamlet probably hides behind the fact that Polonious was spying on him, and therefore deserves what he got.Hamlet’s tragic flaw of being excessively concerned with death ultimately serves as his downfall because Laertes will stop at nothing to avenge his father’s death. The killing of Polonious as previously mentioned was due to the fact that death was always on Hamlet’s mind. If Hamlet had been content with the environment he was...
