In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, death is a theme that Shakespeare explores in depth, throughout the play. Shakespeare captures the reader's interest concerning death in the opening scene, when Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his dead father. This scene sets the tone of the entire play where death, murder, revenge and suicide are played out over and over again. Hamlet not only has to work through how to avenge his father's death, but also has to deal with his own feelings and fears about death.
             The first time the theme of death is seen shown is in the murder of Hamlet's father, who through his ghost, little by little reveals to Hamlet that it was Claudius who murdered him, in order to marry Queen Gertrude and gain the throne. Hamlet, vows to avenge his father's murder and sets in motion a plot to kill Claudius, which in the end leads to the deaths of almost every character, including his future father-in-law Polonius, his bride to be Ophelia, his mother Queen Gertrude, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Claudius, Laertes and Hamlet himself. Hamlet wonders what death is like, but fears the unknown in death and his fascination with death takes the reader on a roller coaster of Hamlet's thoughts, feelings, fears and actions.
             When Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his murdered father in the opening scene, the reader gets an insight to how the theme of death will play a powerful part in this play. Early on Hamlet questions his mortality in Act I sc. 2, when he says, "O, that this too sullied flesh would melt,Thaw, and resolve itself to dew" (Shakespeare 1.2.133-134). Here, Hamlet first speaks of his wish to die, reacting to the quick marriage of his mother to Claudius immediately after the death of his father. Later in Act I, sc. 5, Marcellus says to Hamlet and Horatio "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" (Shakespeare 1.5.100). Marcellus is telling them how the death of Hamlet&...