Hamlet's first soliloquy about suicide, "O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt...(page: 15-16; lines 131-161)" ushers in what will be a central idea in the play. Hamlet wishes to kill himself, but God has forbidden it ("the Almight" has "fixed his canon 'gainst self-slaughter"); the question of the moral validity of suicide in an unbearably painful world will haunt the rest of the play (the question reaches the height of its urgency in the most famous line in all of English literature, "To be, or not to

Ophelia was associated with suicide because there was no evidence of how she actually died. Shakespeare left that for the reader to ponder. Most people believe it was suicide, while a few think that she was murdered to increase Laertes' hatred for Hamlet even greater. The gravediggers' conversation about Ophelia, however, arguing over whether it is morally acceptable to bury a possible suicide victim, advances the suicide theme - of the moral legitimacy of suicide under theological law. By giving this serious subject a darkly comic interpretation, Shakespeare essentially makes a bizarre parody of Hamlet's earlier "To be, or not to be" soliloquy, indicating the collapse of every lasting value in the play into uncertainty and absurdity.

The other important feature of the suicide theme of Shakespeare's work, of course, is the "To be, or not to be" soliloquy (page 67: lines 62-96), which furthers the theme of suicide in the play. Here, Hamlet explores the problem of suicide abstractly, whereas in Act I he explored it in a highly personal way. Considering suicide as an option available to all people, Hamlet concludes that all people would take it rather than suffer the "slings and arrows" of life, except that they are afraid of what would happen to them in the afterlife. The essence of his soliloquy is that it is cowardly to live cautiously and risk nothing, but brave to court death and take action. He believes his own hesitation comes from a fear of the consequences; yet he is miserable and filled with guilt and shame over his failure to act in killing either Claudius or himself. This soliloquy is as noteworthy for what it reveals about Hamlet's mind as it is for anything he says specifically about suicide.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1157
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)