Essay On Parental Death In Hamlet
Parental Death in Hamlet Hamlet is the epitome of the tragic effects parental death has on adolescents. Improper grieving of the adolescent can result in mental illness and even suicide. The play adequately displays Hamlet, Ophelia, and Laertes’s inevitable response to their father’s deaths. Although it is a common occurrence to lose one’s father eventually, Hamlet’s grief for his father’s death greatly surpassed normality. Hamlet expresses, “Oh that this too, too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, or that the Everlasting had not fixed his canon ‘gainst self slaughter!” (Shakespeare 10). Hamlet progressively displays suicidal thoughts and a empty value on his life several times throughout the play. This behavior is a result of his father’s death and his mother’s hasty marriage which caused his to improperly mourn his father. Ophelia on the other hand, becomes crazed upon hearing of her father’s death. It is assumed that her mother died at childbirth, and Polonius was the only parental figure in her life. Her father’s untimely and unnatural death lead her to a deteriorated mental and emotional state. Ophelia eventually drowns after she fell into a river and made
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Hamlet would not have experienced suicidal thoughts had his mother provided care and a stable relationship. Other solutions would have been allowing Hamlet to go to Wittenberg, where his peers could have allowed him to talk about his feelings, or a continued relationship with Ophelia. Similarly, Ophelia needed a strong relationship to help her mourn her father’s death. Since she had a complicated relationship with Hamlet and Laertes was far in France, the only true relationship Ophelia had was with her father. Losing a central parental figure is especially hard on a female adolescent, she needed help from someone to overcome this
Hamlet would not have experienced suicidal thoughts had his mother provided care and a stable relationship. Other solutions would have been allowing Hamlet to go to Wittenberg, where his peers could have allowed him to talk about his feelings, or a continued relationship with Ophelia. Similarly, Ophelia needed a strong relationship to help her mourn her father’s death. Since she had a complicated relationship with Hamlet and Laertes was far in France, the only true relationship Ophelia had was with her father. Losing a central parental figure is especially hard on a female adolescent, she needed help from someone to overcome this