The Theme of Death in the World of Literature

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Compare and Contrast: Death in Poetic and Play Genres
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The world of literature combines the disclosure of the most global themes of our life such as love, hatred, family life, peace and war, etc. To understand the nature of our existence the writers try to highlight the major problems and issues which human beings use to face. The theme of death could seem to be a bit dark and gloomy; nevertheless it is frequently highlighted by the authors both in poems and in prose. The theme of death is vital despite its place in our life.

The poems such as “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson, “When I Consider How my Light is Spent” by John Milton and the play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare disclose the fact that the death shows the meaning of people’s life and its ups and downs underlining the sense of human existence and social contribution.

Because I could not stop for Death by Emily Dickinson

The poem “Because I could not stop for Death” written by Emily Dickinson highlights the theme of death as the calm element of our life. The poem is written in a cal manner in order to present the moment of death as the usual stage in the life of all people. The narrator of the poem is considered to be a woman who expresses her calm acceptance of the moment of death. The basic theme can be observed during the whole story and is underlined with the help of literary devices and special expressive means.

Important is the fact that the death is personified in the poem and has the role of the gentleman. He, the death, highlights the most important aspects of the narrator’s life showing the way through all her moments and events. We can observe that the death is presented as a kind and polite person rather than cruel and rude.

…put away my labor and my leisure too…(DiYanni, 810)

The author underlines the fact that the narrator is not afraid to go with him, to follow the way of the death. The death is presented as a powerful element of the poem and of the narrator’s life in the whole. We can observe her life progress beginning from the very childhood; the author illustrated the image of the children in order to contrast them to the basic theme. The illustration of the children is aimed at showing the element of the future progress; the grain presented in the poem discloses the futurity. Such interactions of the incomparable elements as the death and the future life and progress underline a bit ironical mood of the poem.

To analyze the poem more deeply it is important to stress that the word “passed” can be observed several times in the poem. This feature is the characteristic of the death illustration in the poem. The author tried to show that life time had passed and it is necessary to draw a conclusion of the whole life period and actions and troubles suffered by the narrator. The personification of the death gives an opportunity to see its power and significance in human life. The narrator understands the inevitability of her death and tries to accept it as a usual stage in a calm manner. It should be noted that the author tried to underline the trust to the death; Emily Dickinson shows that the narrator follow the death without any hesitation and fear.

One can easily notice that the poem has a gradual mood and structure. The author moves slowly to the disclosure of the theme of death. Thus, at the end of the poem the language turns from the simple and concrete one into the abstract and complicated. The author wanted to underline her knowledge and feelings as to the role of the death in people’s life. The change of the tenses at the beginning and at the end of the poem stresses the climax of the story. The theme of the death is considered to be the initial and the concluding element of the poem.

When I Consider How my Light is Spent by John Milton

The second work of the poetic genre which is devoted to the meaning of the death is considered to be “When I Consider How my Light is Spent” by John Milton. The introduction of the theme of death in this work is not so direct and active as in the previous one. Here the author strived to show the blindness of the protagonist and through this blindness he strived to underline the place of the death in our life.

Milton shows that life can be as cruel as the death, so one should not be afraid of it.

“Ere half my days in this dark world and wide…” (DiYanni, 1161)

The mood of the death presented in the poem made the author to look back at his life and evaluate the actions and events he went through. The possibility of death helps him to understand that he lived in vain and did not fulfill his main purpose of life. The approaching of the last days of his life makes him to think over the global problems of his existence. The theme of the death in the poem is aimed at strengthening the sense of life.

“hide” ”soul” ”bent” ”lodged” are used by the author in order to underline the sense of haste and contrast it to “death”

Reading the poem the reader can observe no punctuation between the lines; only after the line about the death he makes stop in order to emphasize the theme of the death and its place in the work.

The usage of the allusion in the poem makes some special emphasis on the separate elements. Thus, death is perceived by the author as an element which helps to understand the sense of life but is considered to be the outer darkness of human existence. The author stresses the point that death is a kind of punishment for the meaningless life spent by a person. The theme of the death is presented indirectly though one can notice that it is the central one. The way of life experienced by the narrator moves him slowly to the understanding of the meaning of the death. It is important to stress that the theme of the death is closely interacted with the Biblical images.

“Doth God exact day – labor, light denied?” (DiYanni, 1161)

Not in vain Milton illustrates the image of the God and His place in the life of the narrator. Life after the death is in hands of the God; the only thing is to make your life purposeful and useful by reaching a lot of significant tasks of the life. Milton strives to show that God has plenty of servants who are always there to run in order to do His bidding. People are considered to be God’s servants taking this position after the death. The author managed to show the power of the death though according to Milton, it is a punishment and should be avoided.

The poem “When I Consider How my Light is Spent” is the illustration of the life time review in order to understand the purpose of the death which is about to come. The theme of the death disclosed in the poem is considered to be the kind of a sign for himself stressing that one should make his life useful and do as much as it can be possible.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

We managed to analyze the theme of the death highlighted in the poems; but this theme is also spread in other literature genres such as plays and prose. “Hamlet” written by William Shakespeare is a play-tragedy covering a lot of significant and major themes of life; one of the central ideas of the play is the reflection of the death mystery.

The notion of death appears in the play after the day Hamlet’s father dies. The theme of death is united with the character of Hamlet. He begins to consider that the death can be the answer to all his life questions. In the father’s death the main character feels the atmosphere of the mystery, the beginning of something new and unknown. The author shows that the illustration of the death in the play gives the start to such new feelings as revenge, hatred and cruelty. William Shakespeare highlighted the aspect that Hamlet’s father’s death was the reason for the new cruel and complicated strategies of the characters. Their desire to kill and revenge somebody proves that death gives an end to the light and innocent life providing new feelings of misunderstanding and constant conflicts.

As “Hamlet” is considered to be a tragedy the theme of death is presented as the background of each new step; it is like a teacher and a nature which surrounds the heroes and provides certain rules of life. Fro example, the statement “bitter cold” characterizing the winter of that time can be perceived as a kind of allusion to death; it is so because the author wants to show that all the things are completely dead in winter as well as the nature. The illustration of the ghosts by the author makes the death more powerful and centralized in the play. It is important to stress that death reflected in the play gives some power to the characters. It stimulates for the analysis of the life time and making reviews of some actions they had done during that period.

My father’s spirit in arms! All is not well;

I doubt some foul play. Would the night were come. (DiYanni, 1565)

The imagery of death can be observed throughout the whole play. Thus, the famous Hamlet’s soliloquy discloses the question of life and death covering the major problems of humanity. The imagery expressed by Shakespeare is considered to be perceived as a direct address to death itself.

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them? (DiYanni, 1545)

The character argues if it could be easier just to die or live in troubles trying to overcome and fight them. Death seems to be the only way out for Hamlet providing the answers to all his major questions and helping him to avoid troubles and life problems which are almost impossible to tackle. The problems of morality and physical difficulties can be taken away by death; it can change everything for the better. Thus, the author tries to prove that life and death are closely interacted with each other and follow every moment of our life. The theme of the death is the central one because it manages to fight all other themes presented in the play such as love, respect and the unity of the family. William Shakespeare shows that people’s life cannot exists without the threat of death; but death in this case gives us enough power to live successful life trying to cope with all the difficulties and major problems faced in the life period.

Compare and Contrast: Death in Poetic and Play Genres

The analysis of the theme of the death in two poems and the play gave an opportunity to evaluate the level of it significance in both genres. Theme as the basic literary element in the works under analysis was devoted to the disclosure of the role of death in the life of the characters.

The deep analysis of the theme of the death showed that the authors strived to underline the major points connected with the reflection of the death in our life. As it was shown the theme can be presented either directly or indirectly, but the structure of the work never depends on its role in the work. Both poems and the play prove that the depiction of such a global problem as the death can help the characters to understand their sense of life. The attitude to death can be really different depending on what one can see in it.

The theme of the death highlighted in the literature in the whole refers to the major and global themes of humanity. It is frequently illustrated by the great writers in order to underline the tragic mood of their work. But as it was shown in the poem “Because I could not stop for Death” the perception of the death can be calm and fearless. People can accept death as the usual stage of their life having one more chance to analyze all that they had done during their period.

The poem “When I Consider How my Light is Spent” illustrates the indirect depiction of the theme while the death is presented not as the calm and easily perceived element but as a kind of a punishment for everything that left undone. The mixture of the mortal theme with the biblical one clarifies the author’s attitude to this element. The contrast of the darkness and light in the poem shows the indirect contrast of life and death. A different view on the theme of death is presented in “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare. He managed to show that death had decisive role in our life and could give a start to all the negative aspects and feelings of humanity. The characters of this play consider death to be the way out of all the problems and the only way to happy and successful life.

All the three works though being of different genres managed to highlight the position of the death in people’s life and their attitudes to it. The analysis of the theme as an element of the literature works helped to find one common feature in three various works; though this feature is illustrated from a different angle. The theme of death appeared to be meaningful and decisive in the life of the characters.

Conclusion

The analysis of the basic theme in the works of different genres gave an opportunity to evaluate the place of the notion death in the world of literature and in the human life. All the three works “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson, “When I Consider How my Light is Spent” by John Milton and the play “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare showed that this notion can refer to the central themes of the literature in general. It managed to show how people can analyze the actions of their life period and assess everything done by them beginning from the very childhood.

The fact that so many literary works are devoted to theme of death was the most striking; but it should be noted that despite the gloomy meaning of this notion the theme of death embodied in the poems and the play appeared to be quite interesting and exciting. It helped the characters to understand their achievements and faults made in the life period showing their sense of existence and contributions they made to the social life.

The world of literature covers all the aspects of human existence and it is really unusual to evaluate the role of death in the life of those people who faced it or are about to face. The works analyzed provided an opportunity to see the place and power on this notion disclosing its theme through the imagery and literary language involving the reader into the world of the character’s atmosphere.

References

DiYanni, R. (2007). Literature, reading fiction, poetry, and drama (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

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The Theme of Death in the World of Literature

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