Death By Suicide
Apologies in advance for a not so happy sort of post, but the subject was on my mind.
I was listening to an audiobook version of Antony and Cleopatra today while driving to an from my various engagements (audio Shakespeare is great while driving, try it sometime!). Antony hears that Cleopatra is dead, so he decides to kill himself. His servant, Eros, kill himself when asked to kill his master. “Why, there then: thus I do escape the sorrow Of Antony’s death.” And of course Cleopatra meets a self inflicted end. In the previous Roman Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Cassius and Brutus kill themselves when they find that their battles aren’t going well. Portia kills herself. Plenty of other plays include suicide, one of the most famous examples: Romeo and Juliet.
Lots of people dying in these plays, many of them suicides. How does a suicide affect an audience or reader in context of one of these plays? Romans held the belief that suicide rather than capture was a noble death but I have a feeling that Shakespeare doesn’t share this view.
The real tragedy in many of these stories, I believe, have to do with the unnecessary deaths that occur. Cassius’ death was because he misinterpreted what his messenger saw. Brutus on the other hand preferred not to be captured and preserve his honor. Were either of these honorable?
In R&J and A&C the first lover thinks the other is dead and kills himself, the ladies soon follow suit. Was that a smart thing to do? I don’t think the author is painting a beautiful, romantic end to either pair of star-crossed lovers.
In the Christian world, suicide is a sin and was likely a view shared by Mr. Shakespeare. But I know there are some out there who think suicide serves a different purpose. Maybe Romeo and Juliet were fated to die because a love so perfect cannot exist. Or maybe because the prologue says they die. Depends on the production and the director’s take on the script. What’s your take?
It’s a touchy subject for a lot of people these days with lots of coverage in the media about youngsters taking their own lives, and people taking their lives along with other people for various reasons. Parallels can be drawn between the tragedy of someone so young dying before their time and possibly in vain, as well as those who die “for honor” (in their opinion anyway). Billy Shakes shows us once again that his works can be relevant today.
So what is it with tragedies and suicide? What does killing one’s self accomplish? And are there other parallels to today that can be made? Horatio tries to end his life as Hamlet is dying, but is stopped by Hamlet so that he can “Tell my story.” What story are you hearing when Shakespeare’s characters die by their own hand?
Posted on April 18, 2008
Craig Apr 23, 2008
Ought we be surprised if Shakespeare seems to present an equivocal view of suicide? On the one hand, the deaths of Romeo and Juliet were senseless and unnecessary–but, on the other, it seems impossible to believe that Shakespeare imagined their souls suffereing eternal torment in Hell as the play closes. When Laertes confronts the priest in Hamlet over his sister’s funeral rites, he gets all the good lines, and there is no question where our sympathies are meant to lie. He might have thought suicide a sin, but, given ample opportunity to do so, he never seems to call it a mortal one.
A.K.Farrar Apr 23, 2008
We find it hard (well, I don’t) but no indication Shakespeare does. You never know – could have been a warning shot for one of his daughters.
Someone counted 13 suicides – a majority in the pagan Roman plays …it was, after all, ‘the “Roman” way.’
(Wonder if any good ‘Protestant’ characters kill themselves?)
As a percentage of the deaths in the plays, suicide seems pretty low (and nearly always dictated by the source story?).
(And there is ALWAYS a question of where our sympathies are meant to lie – especially with the incomplete Hamlet texts people will insist on using.)
Matt May 11, 2008
It seems that, often, the tragedy in a suicide is that the character has been destroyed; taking one’s own life is usually the last recourse when one feels he has nothing left, that he’s been left with no reason to live, that he’s suffering a fate worse than death. Murder or death on a battlefield can be seen as noble deaths or mere accidents of fate, but a suicide is always a statement that a character has been laid as low as possible and has run out of options, something that remains true whether Shakespeare agreed with the Romans or not.
Daniell Virgo Mar 16, 2010
I like your site greatly. Will bookmark. Keep up to marvelous writing on it. ty
amber May 5, 2010
i would really like to know what the difference between suicide back then and now is…
Brooks Hochstein May 20, 2010
Fantastic blog.Really looking forward to read more. Really Cool.
Bruce Robbins Aug 19, 2010
I was wondering about the same thing after watching Hamlet. The thinker, the procrastinator, the rationalizer…he talks a lot about killing himself, but never does it (“People who talking about committing suicide, never do.”) Although I had a childhood friend who committed suicide after his father died. Of course, Hamlet, was a Christian, as was Shakespeare (although a non-practicing one), believed in Heaven and Hell, and the Ghost, he imagines might have been the Devil, and not the Spirit of his father…How confusing to him!!! Of course, if he committed suicide right away, or killed his Unk right after his father’s ghost to him to revenge his death, “Hamlet” would have been Shakespeare’s SHORTEST play, not his longest, not the absolute masterpiece the world knows.
As mentioned most of the suicides occur in his plays set in pre-Christian times. Honor, fear of being captured by the enemy, loyalty, devotion, madness (Lady Macbeth) seem to be the main motives. “Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten their bones, but not for love…”.
Romeo and Juliet? Kids…playing as adults. Romanticized love. Othello…guilt, grief and wrongfully accusing and then murdering the guiltless Desdomona, kills himself, and Iago, as far as we know, gets off scott-free, strange because we all like the bad guy to get his due, especially a ratfink like Iago..