A common interpretation of Shakespeare's Hamlet, based on the widely read Folio edition of the text, is that the titular character is motivated by darkness, presenting depression and suicidal tendencies. The young prince often references suicide and his soliloquies contain language indicating that thoughts of death and suicide have a significant impact on his mentality. However, despite his reflection, Hamlet ultimately decides not to commit suicide. To fully understand Hamlet's motivations, one must analyze his lines across different editions of the play, and it is from this analysis that an interesting conclusion begins to unfold. In the First Quarto edition, Hamlet, although he utters many similar lines regarding death and the afterlife, is not the same dark and depressed character as the Folio text suggests. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay. Seemingly small differences in the lines show a significant gap between the two versions: there is a stark contrast in Hamlet's motivations and way of thinking between the first version. Quarto and Folio editions of the text. In the first quarto, Hamlet is motivated by an optimistic sense of religious belief, motivated by his hope for a better future, while in the Folio text, his reluctance to commit suicide stems from his uncertainty and fear of the future. beyond. The optimistic version of Hamlet is motivated by the hope of heaven, while the pessimist is forced to endure life because of the fear of the unknown that awaits him after death. Using this difference in character, one can extrapolate very different interpretations of Hamlet's interaction with his father's ghost and subsequent attempts at revenge against King Claudius. In the First Quarto, Hamlet views the afterlife as a positive source of hope, while in the Folio edition, he dreads what comes after life for fear that it will be worse. This is demonstrated by a significant textual variation which appears in the lines of Hamlet's famous soliloquy "to be or not to be". These lines strongly emphasize Hamlet's ideas about suicide and his interpretation of life after death. In the Folio edition, the young prince's vision of the afterlife is expressed most clearly when he speaks of his "fear of something after death" (Shakespeare, F1, 3.1.78). In the corresponding line from the First Quarto, Hamlet speaks instead of his “hope of something after death” (Q1, 7.132). The difference of a single word shows two versions of the character, who each decide not to commit suicide for different reasons. The first quarto version of the character seems to have a more optimistic view of a religious afterlife. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “hope” is defined not only as the desire for something, but also as the expectation (“hope”). Hamlet in the First Quarto believes that, as long as he does not commit suicide, his life so far has been good or right enough to achieve eternity in heaven. Thus, his primary motivation for choosing not to commit suicide is not fear, but hope. In the Folio version, however, he speaks of his fear of the afterlife. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "fear" is the fear and apprehension of future events, which shows that Hamlet is afraid of entering the afterlife because it will happen in the future and is therefore unknown (“Dread”). In this version of the play, Hamlet seems less religiously motivated, in that he seems unsure of what awaits him in the afterlife, but he is still frightened by the possibility of suffering after death and worried of what the futurecould reserve for him. He is a pessimistic character, speaking of his fear of hell or suffering; he rejects the option of suicide only out of fear of further suffering. This difference shows that in the First Quarto, Hamlet is fundamentally optimistic, naturally inclined to display a positive idea of ​​the future after death, whereas in the Folio text, his interpretation is negative. The difference in word choice is a window into Hamlet's character at its core: the contrast between a pessimistic Hamlet and an optimistic Hamlet leads directly to two very distinct understandings of the character's mentality. In the Folio version of Hamlet, the prince fears the afterlife mainly because it is unknown to him; in the First Quarto, however, his belief in a Christian afterlife and a paradise assuages ​​his worries. In the First Quarto and Folio editions of the play, Hamlet describes the afterlife as an “undiscovered country” (Shakespeare, F1, 3.1.79). However, the connotations of this line are different in each version. The Folio version of the line directly follows the previously cited line dealing with Hamlet's "fear" of the afterlife (3.1.78). This not only shows Hamlet's fear of what awaits him after death, but also his complete uncertainty when he thinks about the afterlife. This reinforces the idea that Hamlet is skeptical of the traditional Christian afterlife, fearing the unknown that he believes awaits him rather than trusting what Christian doctrine describes. Hamlet is then prone to making negative assumptions about the uncertainty of the afterlife due to his pessimistic nature. The placement of the phrase "undiscovered country" in the first quarto, however, gives it an entirely different meaning, as uncertainty becomes a representation of hope rather than dread (Q1.7.122). In the first quarto, Hamlet declares that the afterlife is a place where "happy smiles and cursed damns" (7.121-122). He does not claim to know what the afterlife will entail, but he describes a system in which "cursed" people are "damned" or sent to hell, while "happy" or good people "smile" (7.121- 122). . Thus, he believes in the Christian interpretation of the afterlife, involving a heaven and a hell, despite its uncertainty. As a result, being uncertain is not an outlet for him to display his pessimism, but rather a way for his natural optimism to manifest. Hamlet clearly shows his fear of the unknown in both versions, but only in the folio version does this fear translate into real terror, while in the first quarto his optimism leads to belief that the unknown is something that can be completely avoided. In the Folio edition, after his sentence about the fear of the afterlife, Hamlet declares that it is this fear which "makes us rather bear the evils that we have / Rather than fly to others of which we do not do not know of existence” (F1, 3.1.81-82). ). This line indicates that Hamlet decides not to commit suicide to avoid unknown suffering. Hamlet therefore believes that the afterlife is simply an unknown to be feared and seems to expect the possibility that it will be worse than the mortal world. This reinforces that the Folio version of the character is darker, motivated more by suicidal thoughts and fear than by any hope or optimism. What is interesting about this line, however, is the fact that it is also present in the First Quarto edition of the text in a very similar form. Following the line of hope for the afterlife, Hamlet states that people “would rather bear the evils we have / Than fly to others of whom we know not” (Q1, 7.134-135). In both versions he describesthe afterlife as evils “of which we know not” (7.134-135; F1, 3.1.82). The difference in this line between the two versions does not change the meaning significantly; one might therefore expect this sentence to contradict the claim that in the first quarto Hamlet is not motivated by fear but by hope. However, the importance of this line lies in the lines that precede it. In the First Quarto, Hamlet has already established his optimism at this point in the soliloquy. So this line is not actually a statement of fear, but simply an acknowledgment of the uncertainty that still exists, even in the optimistic text. Hamlet believes in both versions that suicide would transport him to a realm of unknown suffering; although he is more concerned with uncertainty in the Folio version, it exists in both and simply plays different roles. Because the first quarto version of the character is motivated by hope and desire to reach heaven, this line describes the unknown suffering as specifically hell; he believes in hell, but he's not sure what might be expected there. The reason why the unknown represents hell in this case is because hell is the part of the afterlife in which the "accursed damned" find themselves (7.122). Connecting these two lines shows that when Hamlet describes the unknown to be feared, he is talking specifically about hell. Hell as a concept is not unknown to him, but, of course, the devil is in the details: he has no way of understanding the specifics of hell and therefore must recognize it as unknown. However, because the unknown specifically refers to hell, Hamlet is able to maintain his optimistic view of the afterlife and his "joyful hope" of heaven, because heaven is a distinct part of the afterlife. beyond hell (7.123). In the Folio version of In the Text, these lines relating to hope do not appear, and we must therefore conclude that the suffering “of which we are unaware” is here the afterlife as a whole (F1, 3.1. 82). In the Folio edition, the influence of the Christian concept of the afterlife on Hamlet is much less; he is unsure of what comes after death and, as such, fears the possibility of death. The first quarto's version of the character is much more optimistic, and his uncertainty about the afterlife exists as part of his belief in the concepts of heaven and hell. He's not sure what that might entail, but he believes in the fundamental concept of different versions of the afterlife for the righteous and the damned. His optimism allows him to have a more religious outlook, as he believes that heaven is personally accessible. This allows for two different interpretations of Hamlet's interaction with the ghost and his subsequent attempts to carry out the ghost's revenge. Understanding the fundamental difference between the optimistic and pessimistic versions of Hamlet provides a better understanding of the character as a whole. As an optimistic character, Hamlet of the First Quarto believes he can reach heaven. Therefore, he must believe that his attempts to honor the ghost's wishes and take revenge on Claudius are religiously justified. According to Christian doctrine, revenge alone is not sufficient justification for murder, especially if it is a kinship killing, a fact evident in the story of Cain and Abel. This fact leads to the assumption that the optimistic version of Hamlet believes in the hereditary nature of sovereignty. and the divine right to rule, as it requires some form of personal justification for one's actions commensurate with one's religious optimism. Hamlet wishes to kill Claudius, which would in turn assert his own claim to the throne. Because he hopes for paradise in the..