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, exhibiting depression and suicidal tendencies. The young prince frequently refers to suicide, and his soliloquies contain language that indicates that thoughts of death and suicide weigh heavily on his mentality. However, despite his contemplation, Hamlet ultimately decides not to take his own life. To fully understand Hamlet's motivations, it is necessary to analyze his lines in the 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 would suggest. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Seemingly small differences in lines show significant variation between the two versions: there is a stark contrast in Hamlet's motivations and thinking between the First Quarto and Folio Editions of the text. In the First Quarto, Hamlet is motivated by an optimistic sense of religious faith, driven by hope for a better future, while in the Folio text, his reluctance to commit suicide stems from his uncertainty and fear of the afterlife. The optimistic version of Hamlet is motivated by the hope of heaven, while the pessimist is forced to endure life due to the fear of the unknown that awaits his 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 on King Claudius. In the First Quarto, Hamlet sees the afterlife as a positive source of hope, while in the Folio edition, he fears what follows life for fear that it will be worse. This is demonstrated by a significant textual variation that occurs within the lines of Hamlet's famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy. These lines strongly present Hamlet's ideas of suicide and his interpretation of life after death. In the Folio edition, the young prince's vision of the afterlife is most clearly manifested when he speaks of his “fear of something after death” (Shakespeare, F1, 3.1.78). In the corresponding line of the First Quarto, Hamlet speaks instead of his "hope for something after death" (Q1, 7.132). The single word difference shows two versions of the character, each deciding not to commit suicide for different reasons. The First Quarter version of the character seems to have a more optimistic view of the religious afterlife. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "hope" is defined not only as the desire for something, but also as an expectation ("Hope"). Hamlet in the First Quarto believes that, until he commits suicide, his life so far has been good or fair enough to reach eternity in heaven. Therefore, his primary motivation for choosing not to take his own life is not fear, but hope. In the Folio version, however, he talks about his terror of the afterlife. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "dread" is the fear and apprehension of future events, which shows that Hamlet is afraid of entering the afterlife, as will happen in the future and is therefore unknown ("Dread."). In this version of the play, Hamlet appears less religiously motivated, as he seems unsure of what awaits him in the afterlife, but is still fearful of the possibility of suffering after death and worried about what the future might hold. He is a pessimistic character, he talks about his fear of hell or suffering; reject the option ofsuicide only for fear of further suffering. This difference demonstrates that in the First Quarto Hamlet is fundamentally an optimist, naturally inclined to manifest a positive idea of ​​the afterlife, while in the Folio text his interpretation is negative. The difference in word choice is a window into Hamlet's character at its essence: the contrast between a pessimistic and an optimistic Hamlet leads directly to two very distinct interpretations 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 heaven eases his worries. In both the First Quarto and Folio editions of the play, Hamlet describes the afterlife as a "country to be discovered" (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 quoted line that speaks of Hamlet's “terror” of the afterlife (3.1.78). This demonstrates not only the fact that Hamlet fears what awaits him after death, but also his complete uncertainty when thinking 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 therefore inclined to make negative assumptions about the uncertainty of the afterlife due to his pessimistic nature. The placement of the "undiscovered country" line in the First Quarto, however, gives it an entirely different meaning, as uncertainty becomes a representation of hope rather than fear (Q1.7.122). In the First Quarto, Hamlet states that the afterlife is a place where “happy and cursed smile” (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 otherwise good people "smile" (7.121-122). . Therefore, he believes in the Christian interpretation of the afterlife, which involves a heaven and a hell, despite its uncertainty. Consequently, the fact that he is uncertain is not an outlet for him to show his pessimism, but is instead a way to display his natural optimism. Hamlet clearly shows fear of the unknown in both versions, but it is only in the earlier version. In the folio version this fear translates into true terror, while in the First Quarto his optimism leads to the belief that the unknown is something that can be avoided altogether. In the Folio edition, after his line about the fear of the afterlife, Hamlet states that it is this fear that "makes us rather bear those evils we have / Than fly to others we know not" (F1, 3.1.81-82 ). This line states 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 the fact that the Folio version of the character is darker, driven more by thoughts of suicide and fear than 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 we know not" (Q1, 7.134-135). In both versions, he describes the 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 significantly change its meaning; thus, one would expect this line to contradict the statement that in the First Quarto Hamlet is driven not by fear but by hope. However,the importance of this verse lies in the verses that precede it. In the First Quarto, Hamlet has already established his optimism at this point in the soliloquy. Therefore, the phrase 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 send him into a realm of unknown suffering; while I'm more interested in uncertainty in the Folio version, it exists in both and simply plays different roles. Since the First Quarto version of the character is driven by hope and the desire to reach heaven, this line specifically describes unknown suffering such as hell; he believes in hell, but isn't sure what would be expected there. The reason the unknown represents hell in this case is because hell is the part of the afterlife where the “accursed damned” are found (7.122). By connecting these two lines we see that when Hamlet describes the unknown to be feared, he is specifically talking 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, since the unknown refers specifically to hell, Hamlet is able to maintain his optimistic view of the afterlife and his "joyous hope" of heaven, as heaven is a separate part of the afterlife from hell ( 7.123). In the text, these lines relating to hope do not appear, and as such one must come to the conclusion that the suffering “which we do not know” is in this case the entire afterlife (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 Quarter's version of the character is much more optimistic, and his uncertainty about the afterlife exists within the framework of his belief in the concepts of heaven and hell. He's not sure what exactly this 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 attainable. 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 allows for a deeper understanding of the character as a whole. Being an optimistic character, Hamlet believes in the First Quarto that 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 a sufficient justification for murder, especially of the family murder variety, 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 he requires some form of personal justification for his actions that matches his religious optimism. Hamlet wishes to kill Claudius, which in turn would assert his own claim to the throne. Since he hopes for heaven in the First Quarter, his planned murder must be justified somehow. Therefore, the optimistic version of Hamlet leads to an interpretation of the play in which the ghost is a representation of the deity of sovereignty, as this allows Hamlet a religiously valid justification for the murder. The role of the ghost is to influence the mortal Hamlet to place himself on the throne, thus realizing the ideal of hereditary sovereignty. This.