that this too too solid flesh would melt … all the uses of this world.” (I, ii, 129-135) Hamlet’s life no longer serves any value to him. He longs for death, wishing that he could end his own life without being doomed to an eternity in hell. This feeling lingers in his mind throughout most of the play, as in Hamlet’s fourth soliloquy it is believed he is debating killing himself as he ponders approaches that would not leave him at fault for his death; “Whether t’is nobler in the mind … and by opposing, end them?” (III, i, 57-60) Meanwhile, he also fears death as many of us today still do. Upon meeting his father’s apparition and learning of his unnatural murder, he is introduced to a new factor of death that was not considered before: purgatory. “Thou poor ghost.” (I, v, 97) Hamlet pities his father, as he was murdered and was not given the chance to pray.
Suicide In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, suicide is an important and continuous theme throughout the play. Hamlet is the main character who contemplates the thought of suicide many different times throughout the play, since the murder of his father. Hamlet weighs the advantages of leaving his miserable life with the living, for possibly a better but unknown life with the dead “ He wishes the his living flesh would melt into nothingness”(Act 1,Scene 2). Hamlet seriously contemplates suicide, but decides against it, mainly because it is a mortal sin against God. Hamlet continues to say that most of humanity would commit suicide and escape the hardships of life, but do not because they are unsure of what awaits them in the after life.
Death is a very large theme in both The Epic of Gilgamesh and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Gilgamesh is very pride, arrogant and unscrupulous at the beginning of the epic, but as soon as his best friend Enkidu dies, he’s fear of dying. He begins to looking for everlasting life. Sir Gawain also faces death after he takes the challenge of the Green Knight. He shows his fear of death in the book.
When they are fighting Humbaba, Gilgamesh says, “you will surpass all of them... a friend who knows battle understands fighting... stand, friend, we will go up together.” Gilgamesh also shows that he does have a sensitive side when Enkidu dies. He says, “For Enkidu, for my friend, I weep like a wailing woman, howling bitterly... an evil has risen up and robbed me.”. As a result of Enkidu’s dying, Gilgamesh shows that he is afraid of death and denies the fact that he too will die one day. He goes on a quest searching for immortality, where he finds out it is pointless. Through these actions Gilgamesh shows he is denying that he is mortal.
In ancient Greece fate was very strongly believed in. Fate is defined as something that unavoidably falls upon a person. Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, is old Grecian literature that really makes the reader think about whether there really is such a thing called fate or free will. In Oedipus the King an unfortunate man, named Oedipus, is given a prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Despite Oedipus’s tries to make sure his prophecy does not come true.
Sometimes the question arises of whether one should follow divine law over human law and vice versa. This becomes one of the main conflicts in Sophocles' Antigone. The second choral ode in Antigone suggests that man's greatness lies in striving to overcome death, but it is also his downfall if he disregards justice and divine law and the fear of death present within the rest of the population. Thebes has been able to recover from the battle between Polyneices and Eteocles, leading to the coronation of Creon and become a functioning society. We see that the society attempts to perfect itself as much as possible in the mortal life because we only have one life before we enter the afterlife.
He is the complete opposite to Gilgamesh. While Gilgamesh seeks to be divine and seeks for immortality, Enkidu seeks to support his friend and his ideas through life. He aids Gilgamesh to kill Humbaba even though Gilgamesh is in the state of fear. He dies instead of Gilgamesh after the killing of the creature. This is where the thought of this famous quote comes into mind, “a good friend who can find” and some friends are more than brothers and sisters.
Considering suicide, he doubts himself rationally in the event that it is legitimized to live with so much agony and anguish or if finishing his own particular life is the best conceivable choice. "To be, or not to be: that is the question" Hamlet makes this a stride further and works on the supposition that everybody would rather be dead than living, and is alive simply because he has a trepidation of slaughtering himself. Hamlet is no more addressing whether he needs to die, yet just whether or he finds himself able to slaughter himself, on the grounds that murdering himself clashes with his religion. Hamlet’s sadness over his father's demise and his mother's snappy marriage made him wish for death even before he discovered that his uncle killed his father. In Hamlet's first soliloquy, he wishes that his "too too sullied flesh would melt!
Gilgamesh the Immortal Gilgamesh is an epic story of one king's quest for immortality. It was a quest with a low probability of success, but he was relentless. He traveled far and met with the only immortal human, Utnapishtam, who had survived the Great Flood. Both Utnapishtam and a minor goddess, Siduri, advise him to leave off searching and live a good life; he ignored them both. And, in the end, he succeeded in achieving, not eternal life, but immortal fame.
We know that he has powers but from the onset it looks like he plans to use them in the intention of doing well. This opening soliloquy highlights that he wants to be immortal for his work – “Be a physician, Faustus, heap up gold, and be eternized for some wondrous cure.” Once read on this highlights a potential psychomachia within Faustus, as he accepts his soul to be sold in return of just 24 years of power. This is a certain time when the pretext of Faustus’ collusion with the dark powers is highlighted, as it shows his lack of ambition. This point is similarly made throughout many of his words in the play; he debates whether or not he should repent after joining the devil with the good and bad angels both playing their part in making his mind up. Faustus, as the protagonist, is the focal point of this play and this means that they (Good & Bad Angels) are both fighting for control over him.