Selected question: One of the key themes of Hamlet is suicide, with two main characters giving the audience the opportunity to consider its implications for society. Hamlet contemplates suicide in his famous soliloquies while Ophelia commits suicide. Using research from scholarly articles and books to support your argument, discuss Shakespeare's treatment of the theme of suicide. Introduction: Themes have great implications on the outcome of a play, one play in particular that this essay will focus on is Hamlet by William Shakespeare. The written context and relevance to a historical point of view will be discussed, followed also by the characters themselves and how they affect the text itself and the final outcome of the play. Further discussion on the play and its relevance will be put forward in regards to today's society versus the Elizabethan era and how they receive the text, how they approach the social theme of suicide and how it affected them, socially, mentally and physically. Hamlet was written and relevance (historical point of view): a major element of the outcome of a play is the theme that is brought to the fore, a successful play and a play in which the likes of William Shakespeare used writing made certain themes essential to the final result. A theme in particular; suicide belongs to the well-known play Hamlet. This play was considered far beyond its time due to Shakespeare's clever use of soliloquies, which allowed him to engage with the audience and gain their empathy; something that had not yet been seen before in the theater. It has been said that "no work in the English literary canon has been so closely identified with the early modern era (Grazia). It constantly remains...... middle of paper...... the following impacts on other characters and the overall outcome of the play. Works Cited Baker, Susan. "Hamlet's bloody thoughts and the illusion of interiority." Comparative drama (1987-1988): 303.Camden, Carroll. “On the madness of Ophelia.” Shakespeare Quarterly (1964): 247-255. Dane, Gabrielle. “Read the madness of Ophelia.” Exemplaria (1998): 1-8. Grazia, Margreta De. "Hamlet before his time." MLQ: Modern Language Quarterly, Volume 62, Number 4, December (December 2001): 355-360. Petronella, Soliloquy “To be or not to be” by Vincent F. Hamlet: Once again to the breach. University of North Carolina Press, January 1974. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. London: Harper Press, 2011. Simmonds, W. G. Hamlet Conundrums. April 25, 2014. Zeil, Michael. “Suicide in pre-industrial England.” Social history (2008): 1-16.