2004 Prompt: The most important themes in literature are sometimes developed in scenes in which a death or deaths take place. Choose a novel or play and write a well-organized essay in which you show how a specific death scene helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.
In Shakespeare's Hamlet, one of the most gripping and suspenseful scenes is the one where all the important characters get killed. That said there is a lot of importance that Shakespeare has packed into the last scene and the deaths in general. The burning question that Hamlet has to ponder through the whole play is whether he should let God punish his fathers killer or take action into his own hands, the reader gets closure to this question in the final scene of the play and also gets another level added on to the meaning.
The crucial question in the play is whether Hamlet should usurp God's power and avenge his father or if he should let God punish Claudius. This question is truly all about death; Hamlet's father got killed, Hamlet talks to his fathers ghost, and Hamlet has to decide whether he should kill another person or not. Because of these aspects, the meaning of the play has death wrapped into it already. The meaning of the play is that God should have the power and fate will play out in the end, this question for Hamlet and all the death in the play adds to the fact that God really is in control.
In the final scene of Hamlet the most important characters die one by one, this adds to the meaning of the play but also the tragedy. The good guys and the bad die in the end, creating suspense and sadness. All the death shows the mortality of humans and that Hamlet was correct in deciding that God should take the reins in the end, in the grand scheme of things human life is very fragile and this play showcases that. The most interesting and controversial death in the last scene is Gertrude because it isn't clear if she knows the wine is poisoned and wants to sacrifice herself for her son or if she is oblivious. Either way it says something about Gertrude and Claudius, would Gertrude be so loyal to her son to leave her husband in death? I believe she was sacrificing herself but there is evidence for both sides. This is one of questions that makes the meaning of Hamlet so complex and her death adds another layer.
Death scenes always mean more than just a life lost, in Hamlet all the death leaves to a central meaning and that is that God should always have to power. Hamlet has to hold on to his anger and not kill Claudius to avenge his father and leave it to God, in the end when Hamlet dies and Claudius dies it gives the reader closure, tragic but needed. It allows the reader to understand that fate will take over in the end and that God is always in control.
