Fear is Fate
The most powerful generator of fear is the concept of death. Each person's ability to reconcile with someone's ultimate fate generally leads to how a person deals with fear. Oftentimes people are unable to cope with death, which causes them to be filled with deep sorrow. People who are incapable of accepting the reality of death will suffer more in his or her culture. Since people are extroverted by nature, our society as a whole is extremely sociable. This can, in fact, leave many individuals lost because of the death of a loved one. The way people emerge from this stage is what will affect how civilization sees him or her. If an individual can put death beside them and live their lives, things will be much easier for them.
This would be considered the most ideal result; however, people's emotions from grieving death can range anywhere from a deep depression to possible insanity. In society, this is considered to be the least acceptable recovery from a hard situation and it is treated as such in society. Despite the general public's attempts to make life easier, death still brings the same problems as it has for hundreds of years.
The play, "Hamlet," written by William Shakespeare very accurately depicts how coping with death is present in my life, as well as the play. Inability to handle death is shown in Hamlet when his father is murdered and when he finds the skull; just as in mine and my friend's life when her baby cousin was shaken to death and when my great grandmother passed away.
Failure to cope with death contributes to Hamlet's dominant struggle, just as coping with death leads to problems in society. As a child, Hamlet does not encounter with death. He is raised by his mother and father - the King and Queen of Denmark. Hamlet's lack of dealing with death, or even comprehending it, impacts him as a child and now leaves him unable to come to terms with the death of his father. At the time, Hamlet does not know the reason for his father's passing. Later, the Ghost of his father reveals to Hamlet that he was murdered and did not die a natural death. Hamlet cries, "O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain" (1.5.106). This was Hamlet's cry when he found out the former King was killed by his brother, Claudius. The motivation for his doing was to marry Gertrude and be crowned King of Denmark in place of Hamlet's father.
Once Hamlet discovers the reasoning for his father's death, the betrayal surrounding it compounds his feelings. Hamlet was already struggling with the death of his father, but his knowledge ultimately drives him to his insanity. Hamlet's emotions show his incapability of handling death, resulting in his acts of madness. Hamlet also copes with death when he goes to Ophelia's funeral. Given that Hamlet has yet another death to cope with, he is left with deeper losses to deal with for the already troubled feelings he has built up. When Horatio and Hamlet go to Ophelia's gravesite, they are both quite upset about her death. The true problem, however, is not caused by Ophelia's death. Once Hamlet notices how the grave-diggers were working, his distress grows even deeper. Regardless of the pain Hamlet felt due to Ophelia's death, he does not truly reach his maximum point of grief until he discovers a freshly dug up skull of someone he once knew. "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy" (5.1.190-192). Hamlet takes the skull in hand and holds it with sorrow. The skull then becomes the symbol of death to Hamlet, giving him a single object to pour all his emotions and feelings into. He thinks about death, life, and the cause of his madness. Hamlet's struggle is finding a way to deal with death and the emotions that follow, just like people must do.
People who cannot handle death face more serious consequences throughout life than people who are able to. Countless numbers of people do not know how to deal with hard situations, like death, in a well thought-out and rational way. When losing a loved one or finding remembrances of the deceased, a common reaction is to act on your emotions. A close friend of mine had to face an unforeseen death of a family member. She thought her baby cousin of five weeks old died in his sleep of natural cause; however, to her surprise, this was not the case. It was uncovered that the baby boy was shaken to death. Despite the parents' devastation, they caused his death. The father became upset when the little boy would not stop crying, so his initial reaction was to shake him. Whether it was intended or not, the father murdered his son. My friend and her family members were all dreadfully upset at the news, similar to Hamlet when it was revealed that his uncle killed his father.
Both Hamlet and my friend's family were faced with having to cope with death by unnatural causes. There are other ways people must cope with death as well. Sometimes the timing can greatly influence how people deal with loss. The means of death can be devastating, but the timing can cause great emotional downfalls. My great grandmother passed away two days before my tenth birthday. The day after her death I received a birthday card from her. On the card, my great grandmother's handwriting was barely legible. When looking at it, I realized how sick and frail she had gotten. It made it much more difficult because I was already trying to cope with her death. This example was similar to Hamlet when he found the skull in the graveyard. When he held the skull, he felt sadness and distress, just like I did with the card. People struggle with hard situations, like death, when placed in front of them. The lack of coping with death is revealed in Hamlet when his father is murdered and when he finds the skull; just like in mine and my friend's life when her baby cousin was murdered and when my great grandmother died. William Shakespeare's, "Hamlet" personifies how people in the play and in my life deal with death. People have tried to cope with death in an easier way, but for many decades it has caused problems. When those of importance pass away, a void is left. Regardless of who it is, this empty space is incredibly difficult to fill. Depression, sorrow, and even issues with sanity are just a few of the problems that can and oftentimes do affect people while dealing with their loss. Death can leave rippling affects in the community as a whole, as well as with loved ones of the deceased. The possibility exists for these effects to burden people for the remainder of their lives. Hopefully over time everyone will let go of their loss and move on, rejoining the community and remembering the good times from the past. Unfortunately, some people are not able to do this and must deal with unhappiness daily. The pain and issues that people have dealt with have and will always be the same. No matter how much death affects a person, it is fear of death that everyone lives with.
