Hamlet starts off the play in a depression, a depression that was not directly caused by the murder of his father by his uncle. Instead it was caused by his mother's incest and her lack of mourning for his father and her immediate marriage to his uncle Claudius. Hamlet wishes that his "sullied flesh would melt, thaw and resolve itself into a dew." However H

Hamlet is paralyzed at this point, but decides not to commit suicide on the simple fact that death is a variable and an unknown throughout life. Thus, he bides his time, watches The Mousetrap and then afterwards sees Claudius praying. He is ready to end Claudius' "outrageous fortune" for him. However, the conundrum of death continues here. He knows that Claudius will continue to be tormented here in life but he wonders if he will "send to heaven", Claudius. He does not want to prevent Claudius from getting his due in the afterlife, if there is one, so he waits. He lets Claudius endure life for awhile longer until death can punish the sinner in a horrific hell that will torment his flesh and be so sadistic to his soul until it cries for mercy.

amlet refuses to commit suicide due to God's "canon 'gainst self slaughter." He wants to die, to end his own life, not for his father's death which he still considers the bite of a viper- though he does have a suspicion about Claudius- but for the incest of his mother. It shames him and wants to have his flesh "melt" which creates and excellent word picture. It also shows exactly how much shame the sad Hamlet is feeling. To him honor is life and life is honor. Without honor, he can not live as dishonor is one of the worst things that can happen to him. Thus, his mother has made him doubt his honor due to her being dishonorable and he now wants to end it all. However, God who is "'gainst self slaughter", against suicide, saves him. For Hamlet knows not of what lies at the end of the final journey into "the undiscovered country". He fears the afterlife tremendously and this fear fights against all of his actions for the rest of the play as he wishes and wants to know what is out there, but lacks the knowledge and is paralyzed by this fear.

Act III, Scene I has perhaps the most famous soliloquy and line in the whole English Language. "To be or not to be: that is the question" is it. This line means so many things but the most important is that it shows that Hamlet is considering to end his own life. "To be" is being alive. "Not to be" is being dead. He is once again pondering the only sin that God can not forgive: suicide. However, the cause of his desire to die is no longer his mother's incest. Instead, it has become much more ignominious and infamous. He is paralyzed by the lack of willing to go on, to kill his uncle for the murder. He is also caught in a dilemma of a cycle of death. If he kills Claudius, he will probably be killed himself. This incapacitates him for the fact that he dreads death and the very thought of it. During the soliloquy, Hamlet asserts than in our human life, we are born, we live and we die. However, he explores what lies after death. Does anything lie after death? Is death the end? He wonders "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." He asks himself should he try to affect his fate? He wonders if he should "suffer" his fate or take action against his "sea of troubles" which include his dilemma and his incestuous mother and "end them" by taking his own life. Can he end his troubles this way, but how does he know? Death is one big enigma, not only to Hamlet, but too all of mankind. Haml

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Approximate Word count = 2218
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)