Paper Summary:

This paper explains how the language and plot of Hamlet easily lends to the ideology of the 'memento mori,' which means 'remember your death,' and how the entire plot may be seen as embodying the concept of memento mori.

From the Paper:

"When the Renaissance brought about a rebirth of many of the philosophies and customs of antiquity, it resurrected the ancient stoical idea that by mediation upon death one might be able to come to terms with it and pass beyond grieving into a more rational relationship with the dead. Of course, even prior to the Renaissance, the culture of the middle ages had certainly been preoccupied with death. "More than any other period in history, the late middle ages were preoccupied with the thought of death," writes Henry Jacob in his book on Memento Mori and Shakespeare. He goes on to explain that during the middle ages, individuals lived with the constant reminder of mortality; they faced plagues and wars, famines and frequent problems with child birthing and high infant mortality - not to mention the constant slaughter and harvest implicit in farming life. Death was ubiquitous."

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