Influences On Hamlet

The Social and Psychological Influences on Hamlet In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the influence of Hamlet’s psychological and social states display his dread of death but his need to avenge his father’s death. In turn, these influences illuminate the meaning of the play by revealing Hamlet’s innermost thoughts on life and death and the effect of religion. Despite the fact that Hamlet’s first instincts were reluctance and hesitation, he knows that he must avenge his father’s death. While Hamlet is conscious of avenging his father’s death, he is contemplating all the aspects of death itself. Once Hamlet has learned of his father’s death, he is faced with a difficult question: should he succumb to the social influence of avenging his father’s death? The Ghost tells
In Hamlet’s famous soliloquy, “To be or not to be,” (3.1.64) he refers the “be” to life and further asks “whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” (3.1.65.66). By this, Hamlet is asking himself the question of whether to live or die. He then further contemplates the question of life or death by stating to live means to suffer the miseries of life. Hamlet then turns to an alternate route by saying, “to die, to sleep,” (3.1.68) and to die, to “end the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to” (3.1.70-71) but “the dread of something after death, the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns” (3.1.86-88). Hamlet has now attacked the course of the unknown after death. Through death, Hamlet states the end of the miseries of life but that the dread of after death “puzzles the will” (3.1.88) and makes Hamlet conceive the future as unknown and therefore makes him dread