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Post by stormy44 on Mar 21, 2013 1:01:26 GMT -5
"Is she to be buried in Christian burial when she willfully seeks her own salvation?"
This is the first line of Act 5 Scene 1.
Shakespeare starts this scene by having two gravediggers talk about Ophelia's death-which was a suicide. They were questioning whether it is right or wrong to give Ophelia a Christian funeral when she committed suicide. The bible says that anyone who commits suicide will go to hell no matter what, and it's clear that during the Shakespeare era people held this idea as well.
So, my question is, why do you think the bible puts emphasis on the concept of suicide? And do you personally think it was okay to give Ophelia a Christian funeral despite the fact that she drowned herself?
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RegXD
Full Member
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Post by RegXD on Mar 22, 2013 18:02:08 GMT -5
To me i think its because the bible said so and personally i'm not religious so i don't really have a say to it whether absolute yes or no as my answer. But as my opinion, i would give ophelia a christian funeral because she is christian and etc. Personally yes because she did it for a reason or so.
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Post by ginayang on Mar 23, 2013 8:05:55 GMT -5
I think the Bible puts emphasis on the concept of suicide because the Bible views suicide as equal as murder. It is self-murder, which is prohibited by God. This is because God is the only one who is supposed to decide when and how a person should die. But I think Ophelia did deserve a Christian funeral because she was Christian. It is not the gravediggers or anybody else's right to determine Ophelia's salvation, only God decides that.
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Post by delmanykkfs on Mar 23, 2013 20:27:00 GMT -5
Oh yeah I saw that on bible too, but I think it's ok do a fenural to Ophelia even she didn't follow what was wrote in the bible ....
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cesar
Junior Member
Posts: 73
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Post by cesar on Mar 24, 2013 6:24:56 GMT -5
But technically god already decided if she should get a christian funeral or not, according to how he views suicide. So strictly speaking, no, she should not get a christian burial by because she killed herself. She murdered herself and therefore died a sinner, so according to the bible, her fate has been decided.
I think the bible has this take on suicide to prevent people from committing it. I don't have any sources to back me up but maybe suicide rates around that time were really high because life sucked. It was hot, there was nothing to do, murder was a normal thing, diseases, pillaging etc. So the idea of going to hell if you kill yourself would have kept people from offing themselves or they would have at least thought about it a bit more.
Personally, I think that Ophelia should get the funeral she would have wanted, if that's a christian funeral, then so be it. But maybe she didn't want a christian funeral; after all she did kill herself, so maybe she didn't care. So I guess there is no way of knowing.
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Post by hannahs on Mar 24, 2013 8:41:59 GMT -5
I think the bible puts so much emphasis on suicide because no one has the right to end someone's life including their own. When you commit suicide, it's the same as saying to God that I'm too tired of this life that you gave me and I don't want to live in it anymore. People commit suicide because they are put into situations where they think it'd be better for them to be dead than to live with the pains that they are in. This shows that the person doesn't trust God to guide them out of struggles which is why committing suicide is such a big sin.
However, I think that giving Ophelia a christian funeral isn't bad. She wasn't in her right mind when she killed herself. She was insane so she didn't know what she was doing.
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Post by sujeonggg on Mar 25, 2013 3:03:31 GMT -5
I think it's because the Christians thought that it was sin to give up their life that God had given to them. So it was a huge part of their religion to keep their life given by God. So I don't think it was okay to give her Christian burial, sicne it was against their belief that took huge part of the religion. I don't care if it wasn't a christian burial, but as long as it's a religious one, her family should've followed the rule.
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Post by juliekim on Mar 25, 2013 8:45:26 GMT -5
Suicide is an act that is claiming ultimate control in one's life, so in a Christian point of view, it's a terrible sin. Christians believe our lives our God's and He is has sovereign control over all living beings. The act of taking our own lives is saying to God that He isn't God and we are the masters of our lives instead of God. I don't think it matters much whether Ophelia gets a Christian funeral or not. Would that affect her life after death? Would that change the fact that she's going to hell instead of heaven? I don't think it would, so there's not much meaning in arguing whether she should get an appropriate funeral or not.
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Post by sarahlee2 on Mar 27, 2013 7:13:02 GMT -5
In Christian belief, everything that a person has is given to them by God including life which is basically the most important thing. Committing suicide is getting rid of something that was not even yours to begin with. It considers suicide as a horrible sin because it is disrespecting in a huge way God ultimately. I don't think Ophelia should have gotten the Christian burial she sinned against God and disrespected God when she committed suicide so why should she blessed by God in her death? I don't think it should have been that way.
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Post by seongrae on Mar 29, 2013 21:04:59 GMT -5
Bible puts emphasis on the concept of suicide because life is what God gave to us in Christian belief. So as one give up the most important thing that God gave one to, than suicide became a huge sin. Committing suicide becomes abandoning god’s gift, so, the bible emphasis on the concept of suicide. Also giving Ophelia a Christian funeral is not appropriate because she died by drowning herself which is a sin.
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Post by davidh on Mar 30, 2013 11:38:24 GMT -5
Well I think it's because god is trying to give everyone a second chance to live a happy life as much as possible or it was the people who made that concept. I personal think it's good deed that Christians have this because everyone do have right and have to have opportunity to live happy life in anyway they can.
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Post by jessicak016 on Mar 30, 2013 23:10:07 GMT -5
Maybe it is because I am not a Christian anymore, I believe that Ophelia deserves a Christian funeral even though she committed suicide by drowning herself. She did not harm anyone in the society by doing so. Also she viewed her life as hell since knowing the fact that her boyfriend killed her father. If I was her, I would also have doubted if my life was worth living.
And I think that Shakespeare wrote this scene because he wanted to question the law of forbidding someone to take his or her own life.
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Post by michellelee on Mar 31, 2013 3:08:04 GMT -5
I also think that in Christian belief, suicide is considered a wrong deed or sin. I don't know exactly because I am not a Christian, but according to the novel, it seems that in Christian belief, a person who committed a sucide cannot receive a Christian burial. Therefore, the gravediggers were puzzled by the fact that Ophelia was given a Christian funeral.
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Post by hanbikang on Mar 31, 2013 6:30:04 GMT -5
I personally don't know about religious issues however in this case it is right to give ophilia a christian funeral and i guess it said in the bible so i think ophilia took that choice.
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Post by jinseong on Mar 31, 2013 11:15:07 GMT -5
It is said that only God chooses one's death, and commiting suicide is equal as murdering someone. but if the God is the only one who chooses one's death, and loves everyone, shouldn't he be able to stop people who commits suicide? I think it depends. For people who are christian, might think that it is wrong to give Opeilia a christian berial.
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