The Issue Of Death In Shakespeare’s Hamlet And Its Relation To The Renaissance Thinking

The issue of death is inseparably linked with a traditional idea of tragedy. Such ancient dramatists as Aeschylus, Euripides, Seneca and Sophocles implemented the theme of death into their dramatic works to reflect the essence of their own times and the attitude of ancient people towards death. Their treatment of death was presented through serious and tragic elements that intensified a portrayal of certain events and characters, but the concept of death was restricted by the ancient religious dogmas. The Renaissance gave birth to new visions and interpretations of various issues of existence, especially concerning life and death. According to William Engel (2002), The decline and decay of every individual is an old theme with many ways of being expressed during the Renaissance (p.14). Although William Shakespeare, a famous English dramatist of the Renaissance period, constantly applies to various aspects of death in his tragedies, he goes beyond the ancient and Renaissance conception on death. Shakespeare interprets the issue of death through both tragic and comic elements, making an attempt to solve one of the most crucial issues of that era. The dramatist revives some medieval customs associated with death and interprets them through the Renaissance vision. His idea of death is connected with both religious dogmas and atheistic values; for him, death simultaneously embodies everything and nothing. The aim of this essay is two-fold: 1) to analyse the empowerment of death in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet and 2) to evaluate the concept’s relation with the Renaissance thinking of Michel de Montaigne, Thomas More, Sir Walter Raleigh and Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus.

In Renaissance England death was perceived as a mysterious phenomenon that aroused debates among Elizabethan philosophers, priests and writers (Cressy, 1997, pp.465-468). The lack of knowledge in regard to various diseases resulted in constant increase of mortality rates. Thus, death was regarded as a leveller that eliminated social inequality, that is, both the poor and rich could die of an incurable illness or be murdered (Duddley, 1999, pp.277-281). Executions and mutilations were usually conducted in public and were rather popular among certain groups of British population. As Michael Neill (1997) puts it, death and other funerary issues constitute a crucial part of any Elizabethan drama that is aimed at transforming individual death into a common recollection (pp.12-17). During Elizabethan ruling various funeral images and buildings were created in Britain, so that people could constantly think of their mortality (Gittins, 1984, pp.140). Death became an integral part of British existence; as Nigel Llewellyn (1991) claims, Images reminding people about their own mortality were to be found in all kinds of public and private situations In early Modern England, Death always accompanied the individual on the streets or at home among the family (p.25). Thus, Renaissance literature reflects this aesthetics of death, as Neill claims (p.356). In this regard, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is also overwhelmed with characters’ deaths that usually come out from revenge or deception.