Hamlet's dying decision

            In a narrative or a play, the setting of various scenes and events appears to greatly influence the characters’ choices and actions. Often, if a particular scene was in a different setting, the character’s choice would seem less likely or irrational. In act five of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the main character Hamlet decides to duel with Laertes, who will most likely kill him, and Horatio, Hamlet’s friend, tries to convince him otherwise. Background information and the setting of this scene are of particular importance to this event because the audience is unsure of Hamlet’s mental state, and he is forced to make a quick decision. In contrast, Horatio is rational and sees the potential harm that Laertes could cause Hamlet.

Horatio: You will lose, my lord.

Hamlet: I do not think so. Since he went into France, I have been in continual practice. I shall win at the odds. But thou wouldst not think how ill all’s here about my heart. But it is no matter.

Horatio: Nay, good my lord—

Hamlet: It is but foolery, but it is such a kind of gaingiving as would perhaps trouble a woman.

Horatio: If your mind dislike anything, obey it. I will forestall their repair hither, and say you are not fit.

Hamlet: Not a whit, we defy augury. There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all. Since no man of aught he leaves knows, what is’t to leave betimes? Let be.

            The information before this scene is essential for the audience to understand because we appear to have more knowledge about the potential duel than Hamlet. Prior to this scene, the audience learns that Claudius poisons Laertes’ sword and a cup of wine that he plans to have Hamlet drink from. Laertes is included in the plan to seek vengeance for his father Polonius’ death, whom Hamlet killed in act three. Claudius’ motive comes from his fear of losing control of Denmark. He is an unjust king that killed Hamlet’s father. While Hamlet is seeking vengeance, accepting the duel puts his own life at a substantial risk, and by choosing to fight Laertes, the reader understands that Hamlet no longer values his own life. He has realized that once he kills Claudius, he no longer has a reason to live. This is implied by the prior scene in which Hamlet watches the so called “clowns” dig a grave. As they are throwing out skulls of previous burials and talking about how all living things eventually meet their end, Hamlet begins to realize that his life is not significant, which is why in the later scene, he decides to combat Laertes. Background information is crucial to this scene because without that particular sequence of events, Hamlet would most likely have decided to spare his own life and decide against dueling Laertes.

            Setting is also important to this scene, particularly with respect to its briskness. In a matter of a few minutes, Hamlet makes the decision to die, and he basically tells Horatio that in this scene, but Horatio does not understand that. Hamlet seems to trust Horatio, and he is letting his inner thoughts spew out. But because of past events and Horatio’s lack of misunderstanding, Hamlet’s decision in favor of death takes but a few seconds. Had Horatio actually understood that Hamlet was talking about death, he might have physically stopped his friend from fighting Laertes. Without this scene, the play would not have ended in such a dramatic fashion, and with all the characters’ thirst for vengeance satisfied.

            This passage in Hamlet proves that both background information and setting are deeply important to the plot of a play. Without either, Shakespeare’s Hamlet would not have had the satisfying, yet tragic ending that is its claim to fame.