Zoe Meade Paragraph Style

Death is a driving and destructive force that permeates Hamlet, and affects all the play's characters. It is a theme that Shakespeare explores throughout Hamlet. It is terrifying, enigmatic, and inescapable. From the first scene the reader is introduced to a world in which the line between the living and the dead is often crossed. From the ghost of  King Hamlet, to Prince Hamlet himself, all the characters in the play feel the touch of death in some way, shape or form. But when a character dies, it’s not just their life that is destroyed. Often the killing off of a character leads to greater change in the State of Denmark, or the loss of something greater than just the characters themselves. For this reason, it is the death of the character Ophelia that is most striking. Ophelia's death is a catalyst between the Prince Hamlet and Laertes, forcing their anger to a head.  Additionally, there is finality in her death that isn’t so with the rest of the characters. Yet it is the innocence behind Ophelia’s character that makes her death so interesting and sad. She was a sweet and fair girl driven mad and brought to death’s door by the one she loved most, killing the last of the innocence left in Denmark’s royal court.  Ophelia’s death represents the death of innocence in the play, making her death one of the most important in Hamlet.


Main Character
Death

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