Essay: Hamlet: Loss of Life, Trust and Sanity – How Aesop’s Wisdom Applies Today

Loss of Life, Trust and Sanity
Aesop, a Greek fabulist, once said, “He who plots to hurt others often hurts himself.” As Hamlet suffers detrimental effects of mourning after the death of his father, he not only loses a parent, but he loses his sanity due to his grief. His biggest enemy, Claudius, forces Hamlet to cope with the misfortune of this loss, therefore causing the feeling of betrayal when his mother remarries. This notably haunted Hamlet, causing him to lose trust in the only family member he has left. These factors exemplify the theme of loss, which leads to the total demise of the characters. Furthermore, the idea that the loss of life is not the most severe loss a person can experience is a large influence to Shakespeares, Hamlet, as the protagonist not only suffers the loss of life, but consequently, the loss of sanity and trust.
Firstly, Hamlet must learn to cope with the loss of his father’s death, which is arguably one of the most difficult concepts of loss. Obviously affecting his happiness, Hamlet is in the mourning period, which soon turns into an obsession with death.
“A serpent stung me. So the whole ear of Denmark
Is by a forgèd process of my death
Rankly abused. But know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy father’s life
Now wears his crown.” (I.v.36-40)
Grieving the death of a parent is expected, but when Hamlet discovers how his father truly died, he has trouble coming to terms with the loss as he feels that he must get revenge on Claudius for killing King Hamlet. After dealing with the hardships of coping with his father’s death, Hamlets fixates himself on not only the death of Claudius, but his own death. While mourning King Hamlet, Hamlet himself loses his will to live and often contemplates whether or not he wishes to be alive.
“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—and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation
…
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,” (III.i.57-84)
Soon after Hamlet sees the ghost of his father, and the truth that Claudius killed his father is revealed, this causes Hamlet to become aware of the corruption around him, in which he starts questioning whether or not he wishes to be alive in a time of catastrophe, or if he wishes to fight against it. Hamlet evidently develops vengefulness for Claudius, as he aims to fight against all of the evilness surrounding him and put an end to it all.
Secondly, the loss of sanity is displayed in the play, as Hamlet and Ophelia both lose their sense of self, ultimately leading to each of their downfalls. However, it is questionable whether or not Hamlet’s madness was legitimate, as he announces that he will begin to act in a questionable manner as when speaking to Horatio and Marcellus;
“How strange or odd some’er I bear myself
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an antic disposition on” (I.v.171-173)
When Hamlet decides to get revenge on Claudius for the death of his father after the ghost speaks to him about the truth of his death, he decides to act in a mad manner in order to investigate the guilty nature of Claudius without him being suspicious of this action. Furthermore, this leads to the question of whether or not this insanity is real, as it is a deliberate action by Hamlet, but on the other hand, the reason behind this action reveals more than what meets the eye. Accordingly, Hamlet, now so full of anger and vengeance, is willing to put his reputation on the line in order to do achieve retribution, as he now feels hopeless and suicidal. In Hamlet’s first soliloquy his depression is already established, but during the Shakespearean time period, psychological disorders like depression were recognized as madness. However, while Hamlets insanity, or sanity is debatable, Ophelias most certainly is not. Not only did Ophelia lose Hamlets love, she also lost her father. This leads to her total downfall, as she begins to go insane, and later, she commits suicide.
“There is a willow grows aslant a brook
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do “dead men’s fingers” call them.
There, on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke,
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,
…
As one incapable of her own distress,
Or like a creature native and indued
Unto that element..” (IV.vii.165-179)
During this time of grief, Ophelia does not have a support system, as her family is either dead or absent, and Hamlet, who once was attracted to her, has insulted her and became mad. The transformation from hopeful to hopeless is rapid, as her innocent self becomes so distraught with thoughts of death and betrayal. Consequently, She begins to communicate only through bitter songs, representing her resentment of life and everything surrounding her. Soon enough, she drowns herself, in which Gertrude explains her death. Ophelia location of suicide is in a place that she once visited to make wreaths of flowers, contrasting to how that place went from innocent to corrupt by her death, much like her mental health did.
Lastly, Hamlet experiences the feeling of betrayal, as his mother remarries his uncle soon after the death of his father. This causes Hamlet to lose trust in his mother, as her mother turns her back on the man she once said she loved. In an early soliloquy, Hamlet expresses his turmoil:
“…within a month—
Let me not think on ’t. Frailty, thy name is woman!—
A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor father’s body,
Like Niobe, all tears. Why she, even she—
…
…married with my uncle,
My father’s brother, but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules. Within a month,
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her gallèd eyes, She married. O most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (I.ii.145-157)
After Claudius and Gertrude marry, not to mention occurred during her first husband’s death, Hamlet begins to resent his mother, referring to her as weak and shaming her for her incestuous actions. Nevertheless, during this time, before Hamlet is aware of how his father truly died, the controversy he has with the marriage does not have to do with who she is marrying, but how fast it happened. His mother remarried so soon that she has not had enough time to break in the shoes from the funeral, moreover letting her tears dry. Evidently, this confuses Hamlet, as he is so far in a hole of despair and grief to understand how someone can recover the death of a loved one like Gertrude did, brushing King Hamlet’s death off so quickly. In addition to his mother recovering so quickly, Hamlet’s stepfather is insistent that Hamlet move on as well and start treating him like his own father.
“For what we know must be and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we in our peevish opposition
Take it to heart? Fie! ‘Tis a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
To reason most absurd, whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,
From the first course till he that died today,
“This must be so.” We pray you, throw to earth
This unprevailing woe, and think of us
As of a father…” (I.iv.98-108)
The pressures of both Claudius and Gertrude in Hamlet to get over his father’s death invalidates Hamlet’s grief, further creating resentment from Hamlet to Claudius. This adds to the confusion of why Hamlet’s mother would marry someone so unbothered by the fact that his own brother had died. Obviously due to the corruption of power, consequently causing the death of King Hamlet, Hamlet does not yet realize why Claudius is so unaffected by the death of his brother.
In conclusion, while Hamlet is forced to deal with the loss of his family, through death and through trust, this resulting in the loss of Hamlets overall sanity. Becoming obsessed with revenge and death, Hamlet not only digs the grave of Claudius, and unintentionally the graves of Laertes, Gertrude, Polonius and Ophelia, in addition to his own grave.