the inevitability of death essay

May 3, 2023

Contemplating Mortality: Powerful Essays on Death and Inspiring Perspectives

The prospect of death may be unsettling, but it also holds a deep fascination for many of us. If you're curious to explore the many facets of mortality, from the scientific to the spiritual, our article is the perfect place to start. With expert guidance and a wealth of inspiration, we'll help you write an essay that engages and enlightens readers on one of life's most enduring mysteries!

Death is a universal human experience that we all must face at some point in our lives. While it can be difficult to contemplate mortality, reflecting on death and loss can offer inspiring perspectives on the nature of life and the importance of living in the present moment. In this collection of powerful essays about death, we explore profound writings that delve into the human experience of coping with death, grief, acceptance, and philosophical reflections on mortality.

Through these essays, readers can gain insight into different perspectives on death and how we can cope with it. From personal accounts of loss to philosophical reflections on the meaning of life, these essays offer a diverse range of perspectives that will inspire and challenge readers to contemplate their mortality.

The Inevitable: Coping with Mortality and Grief

Mortality is a reality that we all have to face, and it is something that we cannot avoid. While we may all wish to live forever, the truth is that we will all eventually pass away. In this article, we will explore different aspects of coping with mortality and grief, including understanding the grieving process, dealing with the fear of death, finding meaning in life, and seeking support.

Understanding the Grieving Process

Grief is a natural and normal response to loss. It is a process that we all go through when we lose someone or something important to us. The grieving process can be different for each person and can take different amounts of time. Some common stages of grief include denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. It is important to remember that there is no right or wrong way to grieve and that it is a personal process.

Denial is often the first stage of grief. It is a natural response to shock and disbelief. During this stage, we may refuse to believe that our loved one has passed away or that we are facing our mortality.

Anger is a common stage of grief. It can manifest as feelings of frustration, resentment, and even rage. It is important to allow yourself to feel angry and to express your emotions healthily.

Bargaining is often the stage of grief where we try to make deals with a higher power or the universe in an attempt to avoid our grief or loss. We may make promises or ask for help in exchange for something else.

Depression is a natural response to loss. It is important to allow yourself to feel sad and to seek support from others.

Acceptance is often the final stage of grief. It is when we come to terms with our loss and begin to move forward with our lives.

Dealing with the Fear of Death

The fear of death is a natural response to the realization of our mortality. It is important to acknowledge and accept our fear of death but also to not let it control our lives. Here are some ways to deal with the fear of death:

Accepting Mortality

Accepting our mortality is an important step in dealing with the fear of death. We must understand that death is a natural part of life and that it is something that we cannot avoid.

Finding Meaning in Life

Finding meaning in life can help us cope with the fear of death. It is important to pursue activities and goals that are meaningful and fulfilling to us.

Seeking Support

Seeking support from friends, family, or a therapist can help us cope with the fear of death. Talking about our fears and feelings can help us process them and move forward.

Finding meaning in life is important in coping with mortality and grief. It can help us find purpose and fulfillment, even in difficult times. Here are some ways to find meaning in life:

Pursuing Passions

Pursuing our passions and interests can help us find meaning and purpose in life. It is important to do things that we enjoy and that give us a sense of accomplishment.

Helping Others

Helping others can give us a sense of purpose and fulfillment. It can also help us feel connected to others and make a positive impact on the world.

Making Connections

Making connections with others is important in finding meaning in life. It is important to build relationships and connections with people who share our values and interests.

Seeking support is crucial when coping with mortality and grief. Here are some ways to seek support:

Talking to Friends and Family

Talking to friends and family members can provide us with a sense of comfort and support. It is important to express our feelings and emotions to those we trust.

Joining a Support Group

Joining a support group can help us connect with others who are going through similar experiences. It can provide us with a safe space to share our feelings and find support.

Seeking Professional Help

Seeking help from a therapist or counselor can help cope with grief and mortality. A mental health professional can provide us with the tools and support we need to process our emotions and move forward.

Coping with mortality and grief is a natural part of life. It is important to understand that grief is a personal process that may take time to work through. Finding meaning in life, dealing with the fear of death, and seeking support are all important ways to cope with mortality and grief. Remember to take care of yourself, allow yourself to feel your emotions, and seek support when needed.

The Ethics of Death: A Philosophical Exploration

Death is an inevitable part of life, and it is something that we will all experience at some point. It is a topic that has fascinated philosophers for centuries, and it continues to be debated to this day. In this article, we will explore the ethics of death from a philosophical perspective, considering questions such as what it means to die, the morality of assisted suicide, and the meaning of life in the face of death.

Death is a topic that elicits a wide range of emotions, from fear and sadness to acceptance and peace. Philosophers have long been interested in exploring the ethical implications of death, and in this article, we will delve into some of the most pressing questions in this field.

What does it mean to die?

The concept of death is a complex one, and there are many different ways to approach it from a philosophical perspective. One question that arises is what it means to die. Is death simply the cessation of bodily functions, or is there something more to it than that? Many philosophers argue that death represents the end of consciousness and the self, which raises questions about the nature of the soul and the afterlife.

The morality of assisted suicide

Assisted suicide is a controversial topic, and it raises several ethical concerns. On the one hand, some argue that individuals have the right to end their own lives if they are suffering from a terminal illness or unbearable pain. On the other hand, others argue that assisting someone in taking their own life is morally wrong and violates the sanctity of life. We will explore these arguments and consider the ethical implications of assisted suicide.

The meaning of life in the face of death

The inevitability of death raises important questions about the meaning of life. If our time on earth is finite, what is the purpose of our existence? Is there a higher meaning to life, or is it simply a product of biological processes? Many philosophers have grappled with these questions, and we will explore some of the most influential theories in this field.

The role of death in shaping our lives

While death is often seen as a negative force, it can also have a positive impact on our lives. The knowledge that our time on earth is limited can motivate us to live life to the fullest and to prioritize the things that truly matter. We will explore the role of death in shaping our values, goals, and priorities, and consider how we can use this knowledge to live more fulfilling lives.

The ethics of mourning

The process of mourning is an important part of the human experience, and it raises several ethical questions. How should we respond to the death of others, and what is our ethical responsibility to those who are grieving? We will explore these questions and consider how we can support those who are mourning while also respecting their autonomy and individual experiences.

The ethics of immortality

The idea of immortality has long been a fascination for humanity, but it raises important ethical questions. If we were able to live forever, what would be the implications for our sense of self, our relationships with others, and our moral responsibilities? We will explore the ethical implications of immortality and consider how it might challenge our understanding of what it means to be human.

The ethics of death in different cultural contexts

Death is a universal human experience, but how it is understood and experienced varies across different cultures. We will explore how different cultures approach death, mourning, and the afterlife, and consider the ethical implications of these differences.

Death is a complex and multifaceted topic, and it raises important questions about the nature of life, morality, and human experience. By exploring the ethics of death from a philosophical perspective, we can gain a deeper understanding of these questions and how they shape our lives.

The Ripple Effect of Loss: How Death Impacts Relationships

Losing a loved one is one of the most challenging experiences one can go through in life. It is a universal experience that touches people of all ages, cultures, and backgrounds. The grief that follows the death of someone close can be overwhelming and can take a significant toll on an individual's mental and physical health. However, it is not only the individual who experiences the grief but also the people around them. In this article, we will discuss the ripple effect of loss and how death impacts relationships.

Understanding Grief and Loss

Grief is the natural response to loss, and it can manifest in many different ways. The process of grieving is unique to each individual and can be affected by many factors, such as culture, religion, and personal beliefs. Grief can be intense and can impact all areas of life, including relationships, work, and physical health.

The Impact of Loss on Relationships

Death can impact relationships in many ways, and the effects can be long-lasting. Below are some of how loss can affect relationships:

1. Changes in Roles and Responsibilities

When someone dies, the roles and responsibilities within a family or social circle can shift dramatically. For example, a spouse who has lost their partner may have to take on responsibilities they never had before, such as managing finances or taking care of children. This can be a difficult adjustment, and it can put a strain on the relationship.

2. Changes in Communication

Grief can make it challenging to communicate with others effectively. Some people may withdraw and isolate themselves, while others may become angry and lash out. It is essential to understand that everyone grieves differently, and there is no right or wrong way to do it. However, these changes in communication can impact relationships, and it may take time to adjust to new ways of interacting with others.

3. Changes in Emotional Connection

When someone dies, the emotional connection between individuals can change. For example, a parent who has lost a child may find it challenging to connect with other parents who still have their children. This can lead to feelings of isolation and disconnection, and it can strain relationships.

4. Changes in Social Support

Social support is critical when dealing with grief and loss. However, it is not uncommon for people to feel unsupported during this time. Friends and family may not know what to say or do, or they may simply be too overwhelmed with their grief to offer support. This lack of social support can impact relationships and make it challenging to cope with grief.

Coping with Loss and Its Impact on Relationships

Coping with grief and loss is a long and difficult process, but it is possible to find ways to manage the impact on relationships. Below are some strategies that can help:

1. Communication

Effective communication is essential when dealing with grief and loss. It is essential to talk about how you feel and what you need from others. This can help to reduce misunderstandings and make it easier to navigate changes in relationships.

2. Seek Support

It is important to seek support from friends, family, or a professional if you are struggling to cope with grief and loss. Having someone to talk to can help to alleviate feelings of isolation and provide a safe space to process emotions.

3. Self-Care

Self-care is critical when dealing with grief and loss. It is essential to take care of your physical and emotional well-being. This can include things like exercise, eating well, and engaging in activities that you enjoy.

4. Allow for Flexibility

It is essential to allow for flexibility in relationships when dealing with grief and loss. People may not be able to provide the same level of support they once did or may need more support than they did before. Being open to changes in roles and responsibilities can help to reduce strain on relationships.

5. Find Meaning

Finding meaning in the loss can be a powerful way to cope with grief and loss. This can involve creating a memorial, participating in a support group, or volunteering for a cause that is meaningful to you.

The impact of loss is not limited to the individual who experiences it but extends to those around them as well. Relationships can be greatly impacted by the death of a loved one, and it is important to be aware of the changes that may occur. Coping with loss and its impact on relationships involves effective communication, seeking support, self-care, flexibility, and finding meaning.

What Lies Beyond Reflections on the Mystery of Death

Death is an inevitable part of life, and yet it remains one of the greatest mysteries that we face as humans. What happens when we die? Is there an afterlife? These are questions that have puzzled us for centuries, and they continue to do so today. In this article, we will explore the various perspectives on death and what lies beyond.

Understanding Death

Before we can delve into what lies beyond, we must first understand what death is. Death is defined as the permanent cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. This can occur as a result of illness, injury, or simply old age. Death is a natural process that occurs to all living things, but it is also a process that is often accompanied by fear and uncertainty.

The Physical Process of Death

When a person dies, their body undergoes several physical changes. The heart stops beating, and the body begins to cool and stiffen. This is known as rigor mortis, and it typically sets in within 2-6 hours after death. The body also begins to break down, and this can lead to a release of gases that cause bloating and discoloration.

The Psychological Experience of Death

In addition to the physical changes that occur during and after death, there is also a psychological experience that accompanies it. Many people report feeling a sense of detachment from their physical body, as well as a sense of peace and calm. Others report seeing bright lights or visions of loved ones who have already passed on.

Perspectives on What Lies Beyond

There are many different perspectives on what lies beyond death. Some people believe in an afterlife, while others believe in reincarnation or simply that death is the end of consciousness. Let's explore some of these perspectives in more detail.

One of the most common beliefs about what lies beyond death is the idea of an afterlife. This can take many forms, depending on one's religious or spiritual beliefs. For example, many Christians believe in heaven and hell, where people go after they die depending on their actions during life. Muslims believe in paradise and hellfire, while Hindus believe in reincarnation.

Reincarnation

Reincarnation is the belief that after we die, our consciousness is reborn into a new body. This can be based on karma, meaning that the quality of one's past actions will determine the quality of their next life. Some people believe that we can choose the circumstances of our next life based on our desires and attachments in this life.

End of Consciousness

The idea that death is simply the end of consciousness is a common belief among atheists and materialists. This view holds that the brain is responsible for creating consciousness, and when the brain dies, consciousness ceases to exist. While this view may be comforting to some, others find it unsettling.

Death is a complex and mysterious phenomenon that continues to fascinate us. While we may never fully understand what lies beyond death, it's important to remember that everyone has their own beliefs and perspectives on the matter. Whether you believe in an afterlife, reincarnation, or simply the end of consciousness, it's important to find ways to cope with the loss of a loved one and to find peace with your mortality.

Final Words

In conclusion, these powerful essays on death offer inspiring perspectives and deep insights into the human experience of coping with mortality, grief, and loss. From personal accounts to philosophical reflections, these essays provide a diverse range of perspectives that encourage readers to contemplate their mortality and the meaning of life.

By reading and reflecting on these essays, readers can gain a better understanding of how death shapes our lives and relationships, and how we can learn to accept and cope with this inevitable part of the human experience.

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5 moving, beautiful essays about death and dying

by Sarah Kliff

It is never easy to contemplate the end-of-life, whether its own our experience or that of a loved one.

This has made a recent swath of beautiful essays a surprise. In different publications over the past few weeks, I've stumbled upon writers who were contemplating final days. These are, no doubt, hard stories to read. I had to take breaks as I read about Paul Kalanithi's experience facing metastatic lung cancer while parenting a toddler, and was devastated as I followed Liz Lopatto's contemplations on how to give her ailing cat the best death possible. But I also learned so much from reading these essays, too, about what it means to have a good death versus a difficult end from those forced to grapple with the issue. These are four stories that have stood out to me recently, alongside one essay from a few years ago that sticks with me today.

My Own Life | Oliver Sacks

As recently as last month, popular author and neurologist Oliver Sacks was in great health, even swimming a mile every day. Then, everything changed: the 81-year-old was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. In a beautiful op-ed , published in late February in the New York Times, he describes his state of mind and how he'll face his final moments. What I liked about this essay is how Sacks describes how his world view shifts as he sees his time on earth getting shorter, and how he thinks about the value of his time.

Before I go | Paul Kalanithi

Kalanthi began noticing symptoms — "weight loss, fevers, night sweats, unremitting back pain, cough" — during his sixth year of residency as a neurologist at Stanford. A CT scan revealed metastatic lung cancer. Kalanthi writes about his daughter, Cady and how he "probably won't live long enough for her to have a memory of me." Much of his essay focuses on an interesting discussion of time, how it's become a double-edged sword. Each day, he sees his daughter grow older, a joy. But every day is also one that brings him closer to his likely death from cancer.

As I lay dying | Laurie Becklund

Becklund's essay was published posthumonously after her death on February 8 of this year. One of the unique issues she grapples with is how to discuss her terminal diagnosis with others and the challenge of not becoming defined by a disease. "Who would ever sign another book contract with a dying woman?" she writes. "Or remember Laurie Becklund, valedictorian, Fulbright scholar, former Times staff writer who exposed the Salvadoran death squads and helped The Times win a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 1992 L.A. riots? More important, and more honest, who would ever again look at me just as Laurie?"

Everything I know about a good death I learned from my cat | Liz Lopatto

Dorothy Parker was Lopatto's cat, a stray adopted from a local vet. And Dorothy Parker, known mostly as Dottie, died peacefully when she passed away earlier this month. Lopatto's essay is, in part, about what she learned about end-of-life care for humans from her cat. But perhaps more than that, it's also about the limitations of how much her experience caring for a pet can transfer to caring for another person.

Yes, Lopatto's essay is about a cat rather than a human being. No, it does not make it any easier to read. She describes in searing detail about the experience of caring for another being at the end of life. "Dottie used to weigh almost 20 pounds; she now weighs six," Lopatto writes. "My vet is right about Dottie being close to death, that it’s probably a matter of weeks rather than months."

Letting Go | Atul Gawande

"Letting Go" is a beautiful, difficult true story of death. You know from the very first sentence — "Sara Thomas Monopoli was pregnant with her first child when her doctors learned that she was going to die" — that it is going to be tragic. This story has long been one of my favorite pieces of health care journalism because it grapples so starkly with the difficult realities of end-of-life care.

In the story, Monopoli is diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, a surprise for a non-smoking young woman. It's a devastating death sentence: doctors know that lung cancer that advanced is terminal. Gawande knew this too — Monpoli was his patient. But actually discussing this fact with a young patient with a newborn baby seemed impossible.

"Having any sort of discussion where you begin to say, 'look you probably only have a few months to live. How do we make the best of that time without giving up on the options that you have?' That was a conversation I wasn't ready to have," Gawande recounts of the case in a new Frontline documentary .

What's tragic about Monopoli's case was, of course, her death at an early age, in her 30s. But the tragedy that Gawande hones in on — the type of tragedy we talk about much less — is how terribly Monopoli's last days played out.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, emily dickinson's because i could not stop for death analysis.

General Education

Emily Dickinson is one of the most important American poets of the nineteenth century. Dickinson takes a unique and artistic approach to her poetry, which can sometimes make its meaning and themes difficult to pin down.

In this article, we’re going to give you a crash course in the poetry of Emily Dickinson by focusing on one of her most famous poems, “Because I could not stop for Death.” We’ll give you:

• An overview of the life and career of Emily Dickinson
• A thorough “Because I could not stop for Death” summary
• A discussion of the “Because I could not stop for Death” meaning
• An explanation of the top three themes and top two poetic devices in the poem

Let’s begin!

Because Dickinson was so reclusive, there aren't many pictures available of her. This is one of the only authenticated images of Emily Dickinson in existence!

Meet the Author: Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts. Dickinson grew up in an educated family. Her father, Edward Dickinson, was involved in state and local politics. He even served in Congress for one term. Dickinson herself was an excellent student. She began writing poetry as a teenager and corresponding with other writers to exchange written drafts and ideas.

After completing seven years at Amherst Academy, she attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary for a year for religious education. It isn’t known why she left the school, but some scholars believe that mental illness may have led to her departure. (They also think Dickinson’s emotional struggles may have led to her reclusiveness, too.) 

After leaving seminary, Dickinson never joined a particular church or denomination . This was a serious rejection of the cultural and religious tradition in her small, Puritan hometown. Dickinson’s complicated relationship with religion, God, and Puritan values pops up in her poetry, too. 

Dickinson was a big fan of the metaphysical poets of seventeenth century England —such as John Donne and George Herbert—and their works influence Dickinson’s poems. Metaphysical poetry is characterized by philosophical exploration and themes such as love, religion, and morality. The metaphysical poets often considered these themes through the lens of social and cultural events of their time, such as scientific advancements and contemporary issues. Like these older poets, Dickinson’s work focuses on nature, mortality, and morbidity.

Like so many poets, Emily Dickinson was not famous during her lifetime. After her death, her friends discovered her collection of poems, which she had meticulously organized and assembled in individual pamphlets. The first volume of her poetry was published in 1890, four years after her death. 

Though Dickinson’s influence was not celebrated while she was alive, she’s now considered one of the defining poets of her time period. Additionally , “Because I could not stop for Death” is recognized as one of Dickinson’s most widely read poems.  

Emily Dickinson, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” (1890)

“Because I could not stop for Death” is a lyrical poem by Emily Dickinson. It was first published posthumously in the 1890 collection, Poems: Series One . This collection was assembled and edited for publication by Dickinson's friends, Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, and it was originally published under the title "The Chariot.”

Because Dickinson herself never authorized the publication of her poetry, it’s not known whether “Because I could not stop for Death” was a completed or unfinished work. But that hasn’t stopped it from being widely read and studied. 

Find the full text of the poem below:

“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson

Before we get into the analysis, it's worth reading the full text of the poem again. Here it is: 

Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me – The Carriage held but just Ourselves – And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste And I had put away My labor and my leisure too, For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove At Recess – in the Ring – We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain – We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed Us – The Dews drew quivering and Chill – For only Gossamer, my Gown – My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground – The Roof was scarcely visible – The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet Feels shorter than the Day I first surmised the Horses' Heads Were toward Eternity –

Emily Dickinson spent most of her life in Amherst, Massachusetts. The house where she was born is now home to the Emily Dickinson Museum. 

The Background Behind the Poem

Because Dickinson’s poems were not published until after she passed away, it’s not totally clear what motivated her to write “Because I could not stop for Death.” However, scholars have divided Dickinson’s extensive writings up into three periods: before 1861, 1861-1865, and after 1865. “Because I could not stop for Death” was written during the period from 1861-1865, Dickinson’s most creative period. 

This period is thought to be the time when Dickinson focused on two of her poetry’s dominant themes: life and mortality. As you’ll see when we dig into the meaning of this poem, “Because I could not stop for Death” definitely explores both. 

There were also things going on in Dickinson’s personal life that can help us understand what may have motivated her to write this poem. In the 1850s, Dickinson visited Philadelphia and fell in love with a married minister. Unsurprisingly, the relationship didn’t work out, resulting in a disappointment in romantic relationships that would define the rest of Dickinson’s life. She would later experience an emotional crisis (the details of which are unknown) and become a recluse. 

“Because I could not stop for Death” portrays the personification of Death, who visits the poem’s speaker and takes her on a carriage ride to the afterlife. Over the course of the poem, the speaker contemplates scenes of natural cycles of life and death that she observes during the carriage ride with Death. Some may read the poem as a reaction to the disappointments and solitude that Dickinson experienced during her life. Others view it as portraying her reconciliation with Christian faith. Regardless, knowing more about Dickinson, her life, and the circumstances that may have informed this poem can help us analyze her work more accurately. 

Now let's take a closer look at "Because I could not stop for Death" and analyze the poem! 

“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” Analysis, Meaning, and Themes

To help you understand the significance of Emily Dickinson’s poetry, we’ll break down the overarching meaning through a “Because I could not stop for Death” analysis next. 

But before we do, go back and reread the poem. Once you have that done, come back here...and we can get started! 

“Because I Could Not Stop for Death” Meaning

At its core, this is a poem about death. (Surprise!) 

At the beginning of the poem, Death comes to fetch the speaker for a carriage ride. The rest of the poem shows the speaker coming to terms with the transition from life into death. 

In fact, the journey into death is what Dickinson really grapples with throughout the poem. Once Death picks the speaker up for their carriage ride, they travel along a country path that allows the speaker to observe children at play and the beauties of nature. Death takes a leisurely pace and treats the speaker kindly along the way. 

These depictions of the speaker’s journey to death reveal what death means to the speaker of the poem . The speaker seems to be saying that the hardest part about death isn’t always the act of dying itself. In fact, they say that they “could not stop for Death,” possibly because they were too busy living! 

However, this poem takes a closer look at the process of coming to terms with death...and how death is unavoidable. This is a struggle that any reader can relate to, since death is something we will all have to confront someday. 

By the final stanza of the poem, the speaker has achieved something that we all might hope for as well: they are at peace with her life coming to an end. They see a new home rising up from the earth, with its “Roof” in the ground. In other words, Death has taken the speaker to their grave. But the speaker doesn’t view their grave negatively. It’s not a scary place! Instead, it’s the location where the speaker comes face-to-face with Eternity. 

Understanding the overarching message of “Because I could not stop for Death” can help us pick out more specific themes that help us understand the poem better. Next, we’ll dig into three important themes from this poem: the inevitability of death, the connection of life with death, and the uncertainty of the afterlife. 

Theme 1: The Inevitability of Death

We already know that the process of dying is central to “Because I could not stop for Death.” Even more specific than that, though, is the idea that death is inevitable. 

We can see that the speaker is facing the inevitability of death from the very first stanza. The speaker saying that they “could not stop for Death” shows they had not necessarily planned to die--but Death came for them anyway.   

If we look at the meaning of “stopped” in the poem, we can get a better idea of how the speaker was feeling about the inevitability of Death’s approach. “Stopped” seems to mean “picked up” or “collected” in the context of the poem—at least when referring to Death stopping for the speaker. In other words, “stopped” doesn’t mean that Death halted its pursuit of the speaker to search for another mortal. It actually means that Death is making a stop to pick her up, similar to a taxi or bus. 

But “stopped” is also used in the first line of the poem when the speaker says that she “could not stop for Death.” So what’s up with that? T he use of “stop” in the first line could imply that the speaker was too busy living their life to acknowledge Death’s approach. Instead of the speaker traveling to meet Death, Death came for them...regardless of the speaker’s original plans. 

The first line could also be interpreted another way. Perhaps the speaker could not stop for Death because she was too afraid. (In that way, this could be read a lot like Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night. ” In this reading, the speaker “could not stop” because they were nervous about what accepting Death would be like. 

Regardless of how you interpret the speaker’s position--whether they were too busy or too scared to stop--the speaker definitely can’t avoid their trip with Death . When Death stops for them, they have to go with Death. 

While perhaps too apprehensive or preoccupied to stop for Death at first, once she settles into the carriage ride, t he speaker is put at ease by Death’s civility and the leisurely pace he takes on the journey. The path the speaker travels isn’t frantic--there’s no rush! This gives the speaker the time to reflect on all the beautiful things of life and consider what’s to come at the end of the journey. 

In fact, Dickinson’s speaker paints Death in a favorable light here. Death isn’t the terrifying grim reaper who shows up with a sickle and whisks you away to the afterlife. Nor is the trip with Death like a Final Destination movie where everything is scary. In fact, Death is described as “civil,” or courteous, in line eight. The journey that the speaker takes to “Eternity” (mentioned in the last line of the poem) is calm, quiet, and pensive. 

Death isn’t cheery in this poem--but it’s also not a terrifying, horrible process. In this case, Death gives the speaker a chance to reflect on life from beginning (symbolized by the playing children) all the way to the end (symbolized by the setting sun). 

Theme 2: The Connection of Life and Death

The second theme that we’ll cover here is the beauty of life . From beginning to end, “Because I could not stop for Death” portrays how the process of dying is actually characterized by the vibrancy and fullness of life. 

Like we talked about earlier, this poem is all about the journey with Death as a person transitions from life to Eternity. But the carriage ride isn’t what you might expect! It’s not full of sadness, darkness, and...well, dead people. 

Instead, the speaker sees a series of vignettes: of children playing, fields of growing grain, and the setting sun. Each of these images represents a phase of life . The children represent the joy and fun of childhood, the grain represents our growth and productiveness as adults, and the setting sun represents the final years of life.

As the speaker dies, they are able to revisit these peaceful and joyful moments again. In that way, dying is as much about experiencing life one final time as it is about making it to your final rest. 

Theme 3: The Uncertainty of the Afterlife

The final theme that’s prominent in “Because I could not stop for Death” is the uncertainty of the afterlife. The speaker seems to imply that, just as much as we can’t control when Death stops for us, we can’t control what happens (or doesn’t happen) in the afterlife. 

This theme pops up pretty explicitly when the speaker mentions Immortality in line four . At the end of the poem’s first stanza, the speaker states that Immortality (also personified !) came along for the carriage ride. Presumably, Death picked Immortality up along the way to the speaker’s house. 

So what are Death and Immortality doing riding in the same carriage? Well, the poem doesn’t actually make that totally clear. But we can make some inferences based on the remainder of the poem!

After the first stanza, the speaker doesn’t mention Immortality explicitly again. This might mean that, like us, the speaker is unsure about what Immortality is going to do at the end of the carriage ride, which ends at the speaker’s grave. Will Immortality leave the speaker to rest peacefully in Death? Or will Immortality take over the journey when Death’s responsibilities end? 

The truth is, we just don’t know—and it seems that the speaker doesn’t either. That’s reinforced by the end of the poem, where the speaker reflects on guessing that Death’s carriage horses heads were pointed toward “Eternity.” Readers never get an image or explanation of what Eternity’s like. The afterlife remains a mystery to the reader...just as it was for the speaker while they were on their journey. 

This uncertainty can be frustrating for readers, but it’s actually kind of the point! It’s as if the speaker views the possibility of immortality as something we can build into our process of coming to terms with the inevitability of death. While Death is inevitable, the speaker is saying that Immortality, or the afterlife, is unknowable. 

Immortality seems to be an idea that we can choose to take along with us on the carriage ride with Death. What Immortality will do when we reach our destination isn’t something we can know for sure when we’re alive—but Dickinson is leaving the possibility of Immortality through the afterlife totally open. 

This is sometimes read as evidence of Dickinson’s reinvigorated Christian faith...or as a throwback to her conservative Calvinist upbringing. But, those factors aside, I mmortality is presented as a potential companion to the speaker—a belief or presence that can give comfort and peace as she faces the inevitability of Death.

Poetic devices are tools you can use to analyze a poem. Let's check out two that will help you unlock this poem's meaning.

The Top 2 Poetic Devices in “Because I Could Not Stop for Death”

Analyzing poetic devices can help us better understand the meaning and themes of a work of poetry. Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” relies on several poetic devices, but the most important are personification and a volta . 

Personification

Personification is a poetic device that assigns human characteristics to something nonhuman or abstract. For instance, naming your favorite plant--and talking to it like it can listen!--is an example of personification in action!

In “Because I could not stop for Death,” Dickinson uses personification to lend human qualities to Death and Immortality. Death and Immortality are concepts, not people...but in her poem, Dickinson makes them act like people by having them drive and/or ride in a carriage. 

Through the personification of Death and Immortality, Dickinson presents these very familiar ideas in a way that is likely totally unfamiliar to her readers. When Death and Immortality come to mind, we probably don’t jump to images of a kind carriage driver and a quiet, stately passenger. By giving Death and Immortality human qualities , Dickinson helps the readers connect with these complex ideas and makes them more approachable. 

Personification also helps readers ask important questions about the poem . Why is Death driving a carriage and picking the speaker up? Why is Immortality along for the ride? And, most of all, how can we think about Death and Immortality in a whole new way by perceiving them similarly to human beings? While we might not have exact answers to these questions--just like the speaker doesn’t know what to expect from Eternity!--they allow us to critically think about existential concepts in a more concrete way. 

Here’s one example of what we mean. We already talked about how Dickinson is trying to portray Death as more than something to fear. She’s suggesting that Death is a journey that we all must take, and one that can give us the chance to reflect on our lives and find peace in the inevitability of Death. When Death is personified, we can see qualities in Death that may change how we think and feel about it. 

And that’s really what personification is all about: creating powerful stories that make big ideas easier to understand . By the end of the poem, just like the speaker, we see Death in a whole new way. 

A volta , or a turn, is often used by poets to create a significant shift in the tone and theme of a poem. Put another way: a volta can sometimes turn a poem on its head and take it in a different or new direction. 

Dickinson uses a volta in “Because I could not stop for Death” to shift the personification of Death from pleasant to more ambiguous. 

Before the volta, Death is portrayed as a civil and courteous gentleman. You can see this in the first two stanzas, or sections, of the poem. After the volta, which occurs in line thirteen of the poem, Death takes on a more mysterious quality.  

Instead of the happy children and fields of grain, the landscape changes after the volta. The dews quiver and chill, which sets a more ominous and melancholy tone. Then Death takes the speaker to her destination: a house “that seemed / A swelling of the ground.” While this is certainly a metaphorical description of a grave, it’s also something more: it’s honing in on the unknown. The speaker knows that they’ve been taken to their resting place, but it’s at least partially hidden. They can’t see what’s next for them, which turns the poem’s tone from a thoughtful reflectiveness to something more mysterious and enigmatic. This ties into one of the poem’s major themes: the uncertainty of the afterlife. 

So, now that we’ve talked about what the volta in this poem does...how can you tell when the volta is happening? In “Because I could not stop for Death,” you can find the volta by paying attention to the language Dickinson uses. Line thirteen begins, “Or rather--He passed us.” Those words--”or rather”--signify that the speaker’s thoughts and feelings are changing course, or making a turn toward a new idea. 

Another way to identify a volta is through changes to the structure of the poem. If you read “Because I could not stop for Death” out loud, you might notice that it has a lyrical quality. It’s rhythmic, almost like a song. This is because it follows a strict syllabic structure. At the volta, the pattern of syllables in each stanza changes from 8-6-8-6 to 6-8-8-6. 

This might seem like a small change, but you can feel a change in the lyrical quality of the poem when the syllabic pattern changes. It’s like when the beat changes in a song: the song just feels different! In the poem, the change in syllabic pattern helps propel the change in the portrayal of Death forward. And in this case, the volta helps us understand the speaker’s journey through death to the afterlife in a more nuanced way. 

What's Next?

The key to analyzing poetry is making sure you have the right tools at your disposal. That’s where our list of poetic devices comes in handy! These will help you understand the techniques poets use in their works...and ultimately help you grasp poems’ meanings and themes.

If you’re still a little confused about how to analyze a poem, don’t worry. We have other expert poetry analyses on our blog! W hy not start with this one on Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night”? 

Knowing how to analyze poetry is a key skill you need to master before you take the AP Literature exam. You can learn tons more about what to expect from the AP Lit test here.

Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

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Reflections on Death in Philosophical/Existential Context

• Symposium: Reflections Before, During, and Beyond COVID-19
• Published: 27 July 2020
• Volume 57 , pages 402–409, ( 2020 )

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• Nikos Kokosalakis 1  

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Is death larger than life and does it annihilate life altogether? This is the basic question discussed in this essay, within a philosophical/existential context. The central argument is that the concept of death is problematic and, following Levinas, the author holds that death cannot lead to nothingness. This accords with the teaching of all religious traditions, which hold that there is life beyond death, and Plato’s and Aristotle’s theories about the immortality of the soul. In modernity, since the Enlightenment, God and religion have been placed in the margin or rejected in rational discourse. Consequently, the anthropocentric promethean view of man has been stressed and the reality of the limits placed on humans by death deemphasised or ignored. Yet, death remains at the centre of nature and human life, and its reality and threat become evident in the spread of a single virus. So, death always remains a mystery, relating to life and morality.

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Death, Immortality, and Meaning in Life: Precis and Further Reflections

An Attempt at Clarifying Being-Towards-Death

Death and the modern imagination.

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! In form and moving, how express and admirable! In action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? William Shakespeare ( 1890 : 132), Hamlet, Act 2, scene 2, 303–312.

In mid-2019, the death of Sophia Kokosalakis, my niece and Goddaughter, at the age of 46, came like a thunderbolt to strike the whole family. She was a world-famous fashion designer who combined, in a unique way, the beauty and superb aesthetics of ancient and classical Greek sculptures and paintings with fashion production of clothes and jewellery. She took the aesthetics and values of ancient and classical Greek civilization out of the museums to the contemporary art of fashion design. A few months earlier she was full of life, beautiful, active, sociable and altruistic, and highly creative. All that was swept away quickly by an aggressive murderous cancer. The funeral ( κηδεία ) – a magnificent ritual event in the church of Panaghia Eleftherotria in Politeia Athens – accorded with the highly significant moving symbolism of the rite of the Orthodox Church. Her parents, her husband with their 7-year-old daughter, the wider family, relatives and friends, and hundreds of people were present, as well as eminent representatives of the arts. The Greek Prime Minister and other dignitaries sent wreaths and messages of condolences, and flowers were sent from around the world. After the burial in the family grave in the cemetery of Chalandri, some gathered for a memorial meal. This was a high profile, emotional final goodbye to a beloved famous person for her last irreversible Journey.

Sophia’s death was circumscribed by social and religious rituals that help to chart a path through the transition from life to death. Yet, the pain and sorrow for Sophia’s family has been very deep. For her parents, especially, it has been indescribable, indeed, unbearable. The existential reality of death is something different. It raises philosophical questions about what death really means in a human existential context. How do humans cope with it? What light do religious explanations of death shed on the existential experience of death and what do philosophical traditions have to say on this matter?

In broad terms religions see human life as larger than death, so that life’s substance meaning and values for each person are not exhausted with biological termination. Life goes on. For most religions and cultures there is some notion of immortality of the soul and there is highly significant ritual and symbolism for the dead, in all cultures, that relates to their memory and offers some notion of life beyond the grave. In Christianity, for example, life beyond death and the eternity and salvation of the soul constitutes the core of its teaching, immediately related to the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ. Theologically, Christ’s death and resurrection, declare the defeat of death by the death and the resurrection of the son of God, who was, both, God and perfectly human (theanthropos). This teaching signifies the triumph of life over death, which also means, eschatologically, the salvation and liberation of humankind from evil and the injustice and imperfection of the world. It refers to another dimension beyond the human condition, a paradisiac state beyond the time/space configuration, a state of immortality, eternity and infinity; it points to the sublimation of nature itself. So, according to Christian faith, the death of a human being is a painful boundary of transition, and there is hope that human life is not perishable at death. There is a paradox here that through death one enters real life in union with God. But this is not knowledge. It is faith and must be understood theologically and eschatologically.

While the deeply faithful, may accept and understand death as passage to their union with God, Sophia’s death shows that, for ordinary people, the fear of death and the desperation caused by the permanent absence of a beloved person is hard to bear – even with the help of strong religious faith. For those with lukewarm religious faith or no faith at all, religious discourse and ritual seems irrelevant or even annoying and irrational. However, nobody escapes the reality of death. It is at the heart of nature and the human condition and it is deeply ingrained in the consciousness of adult human beings. Indeed, of all animals it is only humans who know that they will die and according to Heidegger ( 1967 :274) “death is something distinctively impending”. The fear of death, consciously or subconsciously, is instilled in humans early in life and, as the ancients said, when death is near no one wants to die. ( Ην εγγύς έλθει θάνατος ουδείς βούλεται θνήσκειν. [Aesopus Fables]). In Christianity even Christ, the son of God, prayed to his father to remove the bitter cup of death before his crucifixion (Math. 26, 38–39; Luke, 22, 41–42).

The natural sciences say nothing much about the existential content and conditions of human death beyond the biological laws of human existence and human evolution. According to these laws, all forms of life have a beginning a duration and an end. In any case, from a philosophical point of view, it is considered a category mistake, i.e. epistemologically and methodologically wrong, to apply purely naturalistic categories and quantitative experimental methods for the study, explanation and interpretation of human social phenomena, especially cultural phenomena such as the meaning of human death and religion at large. As no enlightenment on such issues emerges from the natural sciences, maybe insights can be teased out from philosophical anthropological thinking.

Philosophical anthropology is concerned with questions of human nature and life and death in deeper intellectual, philosophical, dramaturgical context. Religion and the sacred are inevitably involved in such discourse. For example, the verses from Shakespeare’s Hamlet about the nature of man, at the preamble of this essay, put the matter in a nutshell. What is this being who acts like an angel, apprehends and creates like a god, and yet, it is limited as the quintessence of dust? It is within this discourse that I seek to draw insights concerning human death. I will argue that, although in formal logical/scientific terms, we do not know and cannot know anything about life after/beyond death, there is, and always has been, a legitimate philosophical discourse about being and the dialectic of life/death. We cannot prove or disprove the existence and content of life beyond death in scientific or logical terms any more than we can prove or disprove the existence of God scientifically. Footnote 1

Such discourse inevitably takes place within the framework of transcendence, and transcendence is present within life and beyond death. Indeed, transcendence is at the core of human consciousness as humans are the only beings (species) who have culture that transcends their biological organism. Footnote 2 According to Martin ( 1980 :4) “the main issue is… man’s ability to transcend and transform his situation”. So human death can be described and understood as a cultural fact immediately related to transcendence, and as a limit to human transcendental ability and potential. But it is important, from an epistemological methodological point of view, not to preconceive this fact in reductionist positivistic or closed ideological terms. It is essential that the discourse about death takes place within an open dialectic, not excluding transcendence and God a priori, stressing the value of life, and understanding the limits of the human potential.

The Problem of Meaning in Human Death

Biologically and medically the meaning and reality of human death, as that of all animals, is clear: the cessation of all the functions and faculties of the organs of the body, especially the heart and the brain. This entails, of course, the cessation of consciousness. Yet, this definition tells us nothing about why only the human species, latecomers in the universe, have always worshiped their gods, buried their dead with elaborate ritual, and held various beliefs about immortality. Harari ( 2017 :428–439) claims that, in the not too distant future, sapiens could aim at, and is likely to achieve, immortality and the status of Homo Deus through biotechnology, information science, artificial intelligence and what he calls the data religion . I shall leave aside what I consider farfetched utopian fictional futurology and reflect a little on the problem of meaning of human death and immortality philosophically.

We are not dealing here with the complex question of biological life. This is the purview of the science of biology and biotechnology within the laws of nature. Rather, we are within the framework of human existence, consciousness and transcendence and the question of being and time in a philosophical sense. According to Heidegger ( 1967 :290) “Death, in the widest sense, is a phenomenon of life. Life must be understood as a kind of Being to which there belongs a Being-in-the-world”. He also argues (bid: 291) that: “The existential interpretation of death takes precedence over any biology and ontology of life. But it is also the foundation for any investigation of death which is biographical or historiological, ethnological or psychological”. So, the focus is sharply on the issue of life/death in the specifically human existential context of being/life/death . Human life is an (the) ultimate value, (people everywhere raise their glass to life and good health), and in the midst of it there is death as an ultimate threatening eliminating force. But is death larger than life, and can death eliminate life altogether? That’s the question. Whereas all beings from plants to animals, including man, are born live and die, in the case of human persons this cycle carries with it deep and wide meaning embodied within specific empirical, historical, cultural phenomena. In this context death, like birth and marriage, is a carrier of specific cultural significance and deeper meaning. It has always been accompanied by what anthropologists refer to as rites of passage, (Van Gennep, 1960 [1909]; Turner, 1967; Garces-Foley, 2006 ). These refer to transition events from one state of life to another. All such acts and rites, and religion generally, should be understood analysed and interpreted within the framework of symbolic language. (Kokosalakis, 2001 , 2020 ). In this sense the meaning of death is open and we get a glimpse of it through symbols.

Death, thus, is an existential tragic/dramatic phenomenon, which has preoccupied philosophy and the arts from the beginning and has been always treated as problematic. According to Heidegger ( 1967 : 295), the human being Dasein (being-there) has not explicit or even theoretical knowledge of death, hence the anxiety in the face of it. Also, Dasein has its death, “not in isolation, but as codetermined by its primordial kind of Being” (ibid: 291). He further argues that in the context of being/time/death, death is understood as being-towards-death ( Sein zum Tode ). Levinas Footnote 3 ( 2000 :8), although indebted to Heidegger, disagrees radically with him on this point because it posits being-towards death ( Sein zum Tode) “as equivalent to being in regard to nothingness”. Leaving aside that, phenomenologically the concept of nothingness itself is problematic (Sartre: 3–67), Levinas ( 2000 :8) asks: “is that which opens with death nothingness or the unknown? Can being at the point of death be reduced to the ontological dilemma of being or nothingness? That is the question that is posed here.” In other words, Levinas considers this issue problematic and wants to keep the question of being/life/death open. Logically and philosophically the concept of nothingness is absolute, definitive and closed whereas the concept of the unknown is open and problematic. In any case both concepts are ultimately based on belief, but nothingness implies knowledge which we cannot have in the context of death.

Levinas (ibid: 8–9) argues that any knowledge we have of death comes to us “second hand” and that “It is in relation with the other that we think of death in its negativity” (emphasis mine). Indeed, the ultimate objective of hate is the death of the other , the annihilation of the hated person. Also death “[is] a departure: it is a decease [deces]”. It is a permanent separation of them from us which is felt and experienced foremost and deeply for the departure of the beloved. This is because death is “A departure towards the unknown, a departure without return, a departure with no forward address”. Thus, the emotion and the sorrow associated with it and the pain and sadness caused to those remaining. Deep-down, existentially and philosophically, death is a mystery. It involves “an ambiguity that perhaps indicates another dimension of meaning than that in which death is thought within the alternative to be/not- to- be. The ambiguity: an enigma” (ibid: 14). Although, as Heidegger ( 1967 :298–311) argues, death is the only absolute certainty we have and it is the origin of certitude itself, I agree with Levinas (ibid: 10–27) that this certitude cannot be forthcoming from the experience of our own death alone, which is impossible anyway. Death entails the cessation of the consciousness of the subject and without consciousness there is no experience. We experience the process of our dying but not our own death itself. So, our experience of death is primarily that of the death of others. It is our observation of the cessation of the movement, of the life of the other .

Furthermore, Levinas (Ibid: 10–13) argues that “it is not certain that death has the meaning of annihilation” because if death is understood as annihilation in time, “Here, we are looking for other dimension of meaning, both for the meaning of time Footnote 4 and for the meaning of death”. Footnote 5 So death is a phenomenon with dimensions of meaning beyond the historical space/time configuration. Levinas dealt with such dimensions extensively not only in his God, Death and Time (2000) but also in his: Totality and Infinity (1969); Otherwise than Being, or Beyond Essence (1991); and, Of God Who comes to mind (1998). So, existentially/phenomenologically such dimensions inevitably involve the concept of transcendence, the divine, and some kind of faith. Indeed, the question of human death has always involved the question of the soul. Humans have been generally understood to be composite beings of body/soul or spirit and the latter has also been associated with transcendence and the divine. In general the body has been understood and experienced as perishable with death, whereas the soul/spirit has been understood (believed) to be indestructible. Thus beyond or surviving after/beyond death. Certainly this has been the assumption and general belief of major religions and cultures, Footnote 6 and philosophy itself, until modernity and up to the eighteenth century.

Ancient and classical Greek philosophy preoccupied itself with the question of the soul. Footnote 7 Homer, both in the Iliad and the Odyssey, has several reference on the soul in hades (the underworld) and Pythagoras of Samos (580–496 b.c.) dealt with immortality and metempsychosis (reincarnation). Footnote 8 In all the tragedies by Sophocles (496–406 b,c,), Aeschylus (523–456 b. c.), and Euripides (480–406 b.c.), death is a central theme but it was Plato Footnote 9 (428?-347 b.c.) and Aristotle Footnote 10 (384–322 b.c.) – widely acknowledged as the greatest philosophers of all times – who wrote specific treatises on the soul. Let us look at their positions very briefly.

Plato on the Soul

Plato was deeply concerned with the nature of the soul and the problem of immortality because such questions were foundational to his theory of the forms (ideas), his understanding of ethics, and his philosophy at large. So, apart from the dialogue Phaedo , in which the soul and its immortality is the central subject, he also referred to it extensively in the Republic , the Symposium and the Apology as well in the dialogues: Timaeus , Gorgias, Phaedrus, Crito, Euthyfron and Laches .

The dialogue Phaedo Footnote 11 is a discussion on the soul and immortality between Socrates (470–399 b.c.) and his interlocutors Cebes and Simias. They were Pythagorians from Thebes, who went to see Socrates in prison just before he was about to be given the hemlock (the liquid poison: means by which the death penalty was carried out at the time in Athens). Phaedo, his disciple, who was also present, is the narrator. The visitors found Socrates very serene and in pleasant mood and wondered how he did not seem to be afraid of death just before his execution. Upon this Socrates replies that it would be unreasonable to be afraid of death since he was about to join company with the Gods (of which he was certain) and, perhaps, with good and beloved departed persons. In any case, he argued, the true philosopher cannot be afraid of death as his whole life, indeed, is a practice and a preparation for it. So for this, and other philosophical reasons, death for Socrates is not to be feared. ( Phaedo; 64a–68b).

Socrates defines death as the separation of the soul from the body (64c), which he describes as prison of the former while joined in life. The body, which is material and prone to earthly materialistic pleasures, is an obstacle for the soul to pursue and acquire true knowledge, virtue, moderation and higher spiritual achievements generally (64d–66e). So, for the true philosopher, whose raison-d’être is to pursue knowledge truth and virtue, the liberation of the soul from bodily things, and death itself when it comes, is welcome because life, for him, was a training for death anyway. For these reasons, Socrates says is “glad to go to hades ” (the underworld) (68b).

Following various questions of Cebes and Simias about the soul, and its surviving death, Socrates proceeds to provide some logical philosophical arguments for its immortality. The main ones only can be mentioned here. In the so called cyclical argument, Socrates holds that the immortality of the soul follows logically from the relation of opposites (binaries) and comparatives: Big, small; good, bad; just, unjust; beautiful, ugly; good, better; bad; worse, etc. As these imply each other so life/death/life are mutually inter-connected, (70e–71d). The second main argument is that of recollection. Socrates holds that learning, in general, is recollection of things and ideas by the soul which always existed and the soul itself pre-existed before it took the human shape. (73a–77a). Socrates also advises Cebes and Simias to look into themselves, into their own psych e and their own consciousness in order to understand what makes them alive and makes them speak and move, and that is proof for the immortality of the soul (78ab). These arguments are disputed and are considered inadequate and anachronistic by many philosophers today (Steadman, 2015 ; Shagulta and Hammad, 2018 ; and others) but the importance of Phaedo lies in the theory of ideas and values and the concept of ethics imbedded in it.

Plato’s theory of forms (ideas) is the basis of philosophical idealism to the present day and also poses the question of the human autonomy and free will. Phaedo attracts the attention of modern and contemporary philosophers from Kant (1724–1804) and Hegel (1770–1831) onwards, because it poses the existential problems of life, death, the soul, consciousness, movement and causality as well as morality, which have preoccupied philosophy and the human sciences diachronically. In this dialogue a central issue is the philosophy of ethics and values at large as related to the problem of death. Aristotle, who was critical of Plato’s idealism, also uses the concept of forms and poses the question of the soul as a substantive first principle of life and movement although he does not deal with death and immortality as Plato does.

Aristotle on the Soul

Aristotle’s conception of the soul is close to contemporary biology and psychology because his whole philosophy is near to modern science. Unlike many scholars, however, who tend to be reductionist, limiting the soul to naturalistic/positivistic explanations, (as Isherwood, 2016 , for instance, does, unlike Charlier, 2018 , who finds relevance in religious and metaphysical connections), Aristotle’s treatment of it, as an essential irreducible principle of life, leaves room for its metaphysical substance and character. So his treatise on the soul , (known now to scholars as De Anima, Shields, 2016 ), is closely related to both his physics and his metaphysics.

Aristotle sees all living beings (plants, animals, humans) as composite and indivisible of body, soul or form (Charlton, 1980 ). The body is material and the soul is immaterial but none can be expressed, comprehended or perceived apart from matter ( ύλη ). Shields ( 2016 ) has described this understanding and use of the concepts of matter and form in Aristotle’s philosophy as hylomorphism [ hyle and morphe, (matter and form)]. The soul ( psyche ) is a principle, arche (αρχή) associated with cause (αιτία) and motion ( kinesis ) but it is inseparable from matter. In plants its basic function and characteristic is nutrition. In animals, in addition to nutrition it has the function and characteristic of sensing. In humans apart from nutrition and sensing, which they share with all animals, in addition it has the unique faculty of noesis and logos. ( De Anima ch. 2). Following this, Heidegger ( 1967 :47) sees humans as: “Dasein, man’s Being is ‘defined’ as the ζωον λόγον έχον – as that living thing whose Being is essentially determined by the potentiality for discourse”. (So, only human beings talk, other beings do not and cannot).

In Chapter Five, Aristotle concentrates on this unique property of the human soul, the logos or nous, known in English as mind . The nous (mind) is both: passive and active. The former, the passive mind, although necessary for noesis and knowledge, is perishable and mortal (φθαρτός). The latter, the poetic mind is higher, it is a principle of causality and creativity, it is energy, aitia . So this, the poetic the creative mind is higher. It is the most important property of the soul and it is immaterial, immortal and eternal. Here Aristotle considers the poetic mind as separate from organic life, as substance entering the human body from outside, as it were. Noetic mind is the divine property in humans and expresses itself in their pursuit to imitate the prime mover, God that is.

So, Aristotle arrives here at the problem of immortality of the soul by another root than Plato but, unlike him, he does not elaborate on the metaphysics of this question beyond the properties of the poetic mind and he focuses on life in the world. King ( 2001 :214) argues that Aristotle is not so much concerned to establish the immortality of the human individual as that of the human species as an eidos. Here, however, I would like to stress that we should not confuse Aristotle’s understanding with contemporary biological theories about the dominance and survival of the human species. But whatever the case may be, both Aristotle’s and Plato’s treatises on the soul continue to be inspiring sources of debate by philosophers and others on these issues to the present day.

Death in Modernity

By modernity here is meant the general changes which occurred in western society and culture with the growth of science and technology and the economy, especially after the Enlightenment, and the French and the Industrial Revolutions, which have their cultural roots in the Renaissance, the Reformation and Protestantism.

It is banal to say that life beyond death does not preoccupy people in modernity as it did before and that, perhaps, now most people do not believe in the immortality of the soul. In what Charles Taylor ( 2007 ) has extensively described as A SECULAR AGE he frames the question of change in religious beliefs in the west as follows: “why was it virtually impossible not to believe in God in, say, 1500 in our western society, while in 2000 many of us find this not only easy, but even inescapable?” (p. 25). The answer to this question is loaded with controversy and is given variously by different scholars. Footnote 13 Taylor (ibid: 65–75, 720–726) shows how and why beliefs have changed radically in modernity. Metaphysical transcendent beliefs on life and death have shrunk into this-worldly secular conceptions in what he calls, “the immanent frame”. As a consequence, transcendence and the sacred were exiled from the world or reduced to “closed world structures”. Footnote 14 In this context many scholars spoke of “the death of God” (ibid: 564–575).

In criticizing postmodern relativism, which brings various vague conceptions of God and transcendence back in play, Gellner ( 1992 :80–83) praises what he calls Enlightenment Rationalist fundamentalism, which “at one fell swoop eliminates the sacred from the world”. Although he acknowledges that Kant, the deepest thinker of the Enlightenment, left morality reason and knowledge outside the purview of the laws of nature, thus leaving the question of transcendence open, he still claims that Enlightenment rationalism is the only positive scientific way to study religious phenomena and death rituals. This position seems to be epistemologically flawed, because it pre-empts what concerns us here, namely, the assumptions of modernity for the nature of man and its implications for the meaning and reality of death.

In rejecting religion and traditional conceptions of death, Enlightenment rationalism put forward an overoptimistic, promethean view of man. What Vereker ( 1967 ) described as the “God of Reason” was the foundation of eighteenth century optimism. The idea was that enlightened rationalism, based on the benevolent orderly laws of nature, would bring about the redeemed society. Enlightened, rational leaders and the gradual disappearance of traditional religious beliefs, obscurantism and superstitions, which were sustained by the ancient regime, would eventually transform society and would abolish all human evil and social and political injustice. Science was supportive of this view because it showed that natural and social phenomena, traditionally attributed to divine agencies and metaphysical forces, have a clear natural causation. These ideas, developed by European philosophers (Voltaire 1694–1778; Rousseau, 1712–1778; Kant, 1724–1804; Hume, 1711–1776; and many others), were foundational to social and political reform, and the basis of the French Revolution (1789–1799). However, the underlying optimism of such philosophical ideas about the benevolence of nature appeared incompatible with natural phenomena such as the great earthquake in Lisbon in 1755, which flattened the city and killed over 100,000 people. Enlightenment rationalism overemphasised a promethean, anthropocentric view of man without God, and ignored the limits of man and the moral and existential significance of death.

In his critique of capitalism, in the nineteenth century, Marx (1818–1883), promoted further the promethean view of man by elevating him as the author of his destiny and banishing God and religion as “the opium of the people”. In his O rigin of the Species (1859), Charles Darwin also showed man’s biological connections with primates, thereby challenging biblical texts about the specific divine origin of the human species. He confirmed human dominance in nature. Important figures in literature, however, such as Dostoevsky (1821–1881) and Tolstoy (1828–1910), pointed out and criticised the conceit and arrogance of an inflated humanism without God, promoted by the promethean man of modernity.

By the end of the twentieth century the triumph of science, biotechnology, information technology, and international capitalist monetary economics, all of them consequences of modernity, had turned the planet into a global village with improved living standards for the majority. Medical science also has doubled average life expectancy from what it was in nineteenth century and information technology has made, almost every adult, owner of a mobile smart phone. Moreover, visiting the moon has inflated man’s sense of mastery over nature, and all these achievements, although embodying Taylor’s ( 1992 ) malaise of modernity at the expense of the environment, have strengthen the promethean view and, somehow, ignored human limits. As a consequence, the reality of death was treated as a kind of taboo, tucked under the carpet.

This seems a paradox because, apart from the normal death of individuals, massive collective deaths, caused by nature and by hate and barbarity from man to man, were present in the twentieth century more than any other in history. The pandemic of Spanish flue 1917–1919 killed 39 million of the world’s population according to estimates by Baro et al. (2020). In the First World War deaths, military and civilians combined, were estimated at 20.5 million (Wikipedia). In the Second World War an estimated total of 70–85 million people perished, (Wikipedia). This did not include estimates of more than seven million people who died in the gulags of Siberia and elsewhere under Stalin. But Auschwitz is indicative of the unlimited limits, which human barbarity and cruelty of man to man, can reach. Bauman ( 1989 :x), an eminent sociologist, saw the Holocaust as a moral horror related to modernity and wrote: “ The Holocaust was born and executed in modern rational society, at the high stage of our civilization and at the peak of human cultural achievement, and for this reason it is a problem of that society, civilization and culture. ”

Questions associated with the mass death are now magnified by the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19). This has caused global panic and created unpredictability at all levels of society and culture. This sudden global threat of death makes it timely to re-examine our values, our beliefs (secular or religious), and the meaning of life. Max Weber (1948: 182), who died a hundred years ago in the pandemic of great influenza, was sceptical and pessimistic about modernity, and argued that it was leading to a cage with “ specialists without spirit, sensualists without heart; this nullity imagines that it had attained a level of civilization never before achieved. ”

So, what does this examination of philosophical anthropology illuminate in terms of questions of human nature and life and death in deeper intellectual, philosophical, dramaturgical context? Now, we are well into the twenty-first century, and with the revolution in information science, the internet, biotechnology and data religion , the promethean view of man seems to have reached new heights. Yet, massive death, by a single virus this time, threatens again humanity; are there any lessons to be learned? Will this threat, apart from the negativity of death, bring back the wisdom, which T. S. Elliot said we have lost in modern times? Will it show us our limits? Will it reduce our conceit and arrogance? Will it make us more humble, moderate, prudent, and more humane for this and future generations, and for the sake of life in this planet at large? These are the questions arising now amongst many circles, and it is likely that old religious and philosophical ideas about virtuous life and the hope of immortality (eschatologically) may revive again as we are well within late modernity (I do not like the term postmodernity, which has been widely used in sociology since the 1980s).

The central argument of this essay has been that death has always been and remains at the centre of life. Philosophically and existentially the meaning of death is problematic, and the natural sciences cannot produce knowledge on this problem. Religious traditions always beheld the immortality of the soul and so argued great philosophers like Plato and Aristotle. Modernity, since the Enlightenment, rejected such views as anachronistic and advanced an anthropocentric promethean, view of man, at the expense of the sacred and transcendence at large. Instead, within what Taylor (1967: 537–193) has described as the immanent frame, it developed “closed world structures,” which are at the expense of human nature and human freedom. One consequence of this has been massive death during the twentieth century.

Following Levinas ( 2000 ), I argued that death should not be understood to lead to nothingness because nothingness means certitude and positive knowledge, which we cannot have existentially in the case of death. In this sense the reality of death should not be understood to lead to annihilation of life and remains a mystery. Moreover, the presence and the reality of death as a limit and a boundary should serve as educative lesson for both the autonomy and creativity of man and against an overinflated promethean view of her/his nature.

David Martin ( 1980 :16) puts the matter about human and divine autonomy as follows: “Indeed, it is all too easy to phrase the problem so that the autonomy of God and the autonomy of man are rival claimants for what science leaves over”. This concurs with his, ( 1978 :12), understanding of religion, (which I share), as “acceptance of a level of reality beyond the observable world known to science, to which we ascribe meanings and purposes completing and transcending those of the purely human realm”.

We do not know how and when human beings acquired this capacity during the evolutionary process of the species. It characterises however a radical shift from nature to culture as the latter is defined by Clifford Geertz (1973:68): “an ordered system of meanings and symbols …in terms of which individuals define their world, express their feelings and make their judgements”.

For a comprehensive extensive and impressive account and discussion of Levinas’ philosophy and work, and relevant bibliography, see Bergo ( 2019 ).

Perhaps it is worth mentioning here that the meaning of the concept of time, as it was in Cartesian Philosophy and Newtonian physics, has changed radically with Einstein’s theories of relativity and contemporary quantum physics (Heisenberg 1959 ). Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle (Hilgervood and Uffink, 2016 ) is very relevant to non- deterministic conceptions of time/space and scientific and philosophical discourse generally.

Various religions articulate the structure of these meanings in different cultural contexts symbolically and all of them involve the divine and an eschatological metaphysical dimension beyond history, beyond our experience of time and space.

Ancient Egyptian culture is well known for its preoccupation with life after death, the immortality of the soul and the elaborate ritual involved in the mummification of the Pharaohs. See: anen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_ Egyptian_ funerary_ practices). Also the findings of archaeological excavations of tombs of kings in all ancient cultures constitute invaluable sources of knowledge not only about the meaning of death and the beliefs and rituals associated with it in these cultures but also of life and religion and politics and society at large.

For an extensive account of general theories of the soul in Greek antiquity see: Lorenz ( 2009 ).

For a good account on Pythagoras’ views on the transmigration of the souls see: Huffman ( 2018 ).

For a recent good account on the diachronic importance of Plato’s philosophy see: Kraut ( 2017 ).

For a very extensive analytical account and discussion of Aristotle’s philosophy and work with recent bibliography see: Shields ( 2016 ).

For an overview of Phaedo in English with commentary and the original Greek text see: Steadman ( 2015 ).

See, for instance, Wilson ( 1969 ) and Martin ( 1978 ) for radically different analyses and interpretations of secularization.

Marxism is a good example. God, the sacred and tradition generally are rejected but the proletariat and the Party acquire a sacred significance. The notion of salvation is enclosed as potentiality within history in a closed system of the class struggle. This, however, has direct political consequences because, along with the sacred, democracy is exiled and turned into a totalitarian system. The same is true, of course, at the other end of the spectrum with fascism.

Further Reading

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Charlton, W, 1980, Aristotle’s definition of the soul. Phonesis, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 170–186.

Garsey-Foley, K. 2006. Death and Religion in a Changing World . MC Sharpe.

Geertz, C. 1993. The Interpretation of Cultures . London: Hutchinson.

Gellner, E. 1992 . Postmodernism Reason and Religion. London and New York: Routledge.

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Hilgervoord, J, and Uffing, J. 2016. The Uncertainty Principle. Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (Winter 2018 edition) Edward Zalta (ed.) https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/qt-uncertainty

Huffman, C. 2018. Pythagoras. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (winter 2018 edition) Edward Zalta (ed.). https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pythagoras/ .

Isherwood, D. 2016. Science at last explains our soul: exploring the human condition with clues from science. https://www.zmescience.com/science/science-explains-our-soul/ .

King, R. 2001. Aristotle on Life and Death. London: Duckworth.

Kokosalakis, N. 2001. Symbolism (religious)) and Icon. International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioural Science . Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Kokosalakis, N. 2020. Symbolism and Power in David Martin’s Sociology of Religion. Society. vol. 57, pp. 173–179. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-020-00462-x .

Kraut, R. 2017. Plato. The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 edition) Edward N. Zaltman (ed.) https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/plato/ .

Levinas, E. 1969. Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority . (Trans. A. Lingis). Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press.

Levinas, E, 1991 . Otherwise than Being or Beyond Essence . (trans. A. Lingis). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.

Levinas, E. 1998. Of God Who Comes to Mind . (trans, Betina Bergo). Stanford CA: Stanford University Press.

Levinas, E. 2000. God, Death and Time . (tr. Betina Bergo) Stanford Calif: Stanford University Press.

Lorenz, H. 2009. Ancient Theories of the Soul. The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy . (Summer 2009 edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2009/entries/ancient-soul/ . Accessed 22 Apr 2009.

Martin, D. 1978. A General Theory of Secularization . Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

Martin, D. 1980. The Breaking of the Image. Oxford: Basil Blackwell

Sartre, Jean-Paul. 1969. Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology. London: Methuen.

Shagufta, B. and M. Hamad. 2018. Concept of immortality in Platos’s Phaedo. Al-Hikmat , Vol. 36, pp. 1–12.

Shakespeare, W. 1890, Charles Knight (ed.) The Works of William Shakespeare. London: Routledge. Vol V, p. 132.

Shields, C. 2015. De Anima. (tr. with an introduction and commentary). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Shields, C. 2016. Aristotle. The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (winter 2016 edition) Edward N. Zalta (ed.). https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle/ . Accessed 29 Jul 2015.

Steadman, G. 2015. Plato’s Phaedo , 1 edition. https://geoffreysteadman.files.wordpress.com.....PDF. Accessed 15 Jun 2015.

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Kokosalakis, N. Reflections on Death in Philosophical/Existential Context. Soc 57 , 402–409 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-020-00503-5

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• Accepting your mortality

Death is an unavoidable part of the cycle of life, yet many of us do everything we can to avoid accepting our mortality. But coming to terms with the inevitability of death can help teach us to live more fully in the here and now. In fact consciousness of our mortality can enable us to cherish every moment of the life we have.

In this section

• Making the most of life

Accepting reality

Coming to terms with our mortality is a challenge faced by us all. But accepting death can be hugely problematic. We each have to find our own way to process the reality of dying. But faith can help, as can taking a practical approach.

For example, accepting that life has a finite span focuses the attention, enabling us to take stock of our lives and think about the possibilities still ahead. We may ask ourselves searching questions, such as what impact do we want to make on the world? And what do we want our legacy to be?

Discussing death and mortality

Death is a subject most of us avoid discussing but talking about it can help reposition how we feel about our mortality. We all want a good death, to die well, but what does that actually mean?

Perhaps it’s taking the time to consider what would be the best possible death experience for you. For example, who would you like to be with you? What might be your last wishes? Make the most of now to give full consideration to these questions.

Emotional and spiritual work

Beyond the practical there is emotional and spiritual work to be done to come to terms with the inevitability of death. Thinking about your life ending can be anxiety provoking, so make time for periods of calm, contemplative reflection. This time should help you to see things more clearly, making it easier to take the necessary steps toward living the best version of your life.

Controlling anxiety about dying

Accepting your mortality can also be freeing, as one of the consequences can be making more conscious choices in the present. Indeed if we can strive to control how anxiety about death impacts upon us, we can avoid potentially negative or destructive behaviour and focus positively on the time we have.

It’s said that to remind himself of the shortness of life, the Italian saint Charles Borromeo kept a human skull on a little table in his house. That might be a bit too much for us today, and yet, the reality is that death can happen at any moment.

Fr Neil McNicholas, author of A Catholic Approach to Dying , says: “The thought that ‘each day you awaken could be the last you have’ could sound very depressing, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Becoming comfortable with the reality of death

“What it means is that the more comfortable we become with the reality of death, and the less we deny it, the more positively attuned we’ll be to the day-to-day things that remind us of our mortality.”

He gives an example: “What kind of send-off do we give our children and spouses when they, or we, leave home in the morning for school or work? Could we, or they, live with the memory of the last thing that was said or done in the tragic event that it actually was the last thing?”

Read about making the most of now .

Remembering and ‘memento mori’

The fact is, an awareness of our mortality can lead us to behave differently in the present. In the Middle Ages, the Black Death claimed the lives of about a third of the entire population of Europe. As a result, the catchphrase ‘memento mori’ (remember death) became very well-known and deeply shaped the way people lived their lives.

The popular medieval play Everyman , for example, reminded everyone that the only thing that will be of any value at the end of life are our good deeds.

The importance of living well

Sister Anne Donockley, an Augustinian nun from Cumbria, died of a heart condition in April 2016. Towards the end of her life, she reflected on the importance of living well:

Living your life

“I once saw something where it mentioned that on a coffin there are two dates; the date of your birth, the date of your death and there is a little dash in between the two – the hyphen. The most important of those three things on the coffin is actually the hyphen, representing your life between birth and death.”

Trying to do good

She went on: “I think there is a way of living that prepares you for death. It’s in the sense that you try to do good, to care about people and that you’re focused on others. Then I think you are preparing for death throughout life, really.”

Watch our video featuring Sister Anne  Donockley .

Shifting perceptions

Another major issue with accepting death is that for the majority, death is no longer something that touches our day-to-day lives.

Even just 100 years ago, death was everywhere. Around 1 in 10 people died in childhood. Life expectancy was just 46 for men and 50 for women. And people tended to die at home – with their families – rather than in hospital. But thanks to improvements in public health over the past century, we rarely stare death in the face any more.

Looking more closely at dying

There is something to be said, for getting re-acquainted with death and dying. One of the best ways to do this is to get closer to the process by becoming more involved in the work of a local hospice.

Hospices rely on volunteers to help with their valuable work in caring for the dying. Volunteers undertake a range of tasks, such as serving meals to patients, helping with support groups, driving people to appointments or collecting prescriptions.

Become a hospice volunteer

If you would like to help, there will probably be a structured application and training process. If you are short on time, there are other ways you might get involved in supporting your local hospice.

Whatever your level of involvement, finding out about the work of your local hospice is a great way to do something good, as well as enabling you to understand and become more accepting of your own mortality. Find out more about becoming a hospice volunteer .

Dying and the Christian tradition

There is, however, a more fundamental reason that we might have trouble coming to terms with death. Within the Christian tradition, death is not considered to be part of God’s original plan. “For God created us for incorruption, and made us in the image of his own eternity”, says the biblical book of Wisdom (2:23).

Rather, death is understood to be a result of sin. Seen from this perspective, it’s not surprising that we might have such issues with death. If we were designed for immortality, then it’s only natural for us to fear death – and to have a strong will to live on.

Pope Francis on death and dying

Pope Francis has spoken about this very instinct. He said: “If it is understood as the end of everything, death frightens us, it terrifies us, it becomes a threat that shatters every dream, every promise, it severs every relationship and interrupts every journey.”

Yet he added: “If we look at the most painful moments of our lives, when we have lost a loved one — our parents, a brother, a sister, a spouse, a child, a friend. We realize that even amid the tragedy of loss, even when torn by separation, the conviction arises in the heart that everything cannot be over, that the good given and received has not been pointless. There is a powerful instinct within us which tells us that our lives do not end with death.”

Catholic prayers for the dead and dying

There are specific Catholic prayers in relation to death and dying. Some are intended for a specific point in an individual’s journey, others for after death has occurred for use by family and friends. All should bring relief and some comfort at a very difficult time. Read more here .

The 18th century saint, Alphonsus Liguori, wrote a whole book about preparing for death. He said: “It is certain that we shall die; but the time of death is uncertain. God has already fixed the year, the month, the day, the hour, and the moment when you and I are to leave this earth and go into eternity; but the time is unknown to us. All know that they must die: but the misfortune is, that many view death at such a distance, that they lose sight of it.”

Death as a Theme in Hamlet

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Death permeates "Hamlet" right from the opening scene of the play, where the ghost of Hamlet’s father introduces the idea of death and its consequences. The ghost represents a disruption to the accepted social order – a theme also reflected in the volatile socio-political state of Denmark and Hamlet’s own indecision.

This disorder has been triggered by the "unnatural death" of Denmark's figurehead, soon followed by a raft of murder, suicide, revenge and accidental deaths.

Hamlet is fascinated by death throughout the play. Deeply rooted in his character, this obsession with death is likely a product of his grief.

Hamlet's Preoccupation With Death

Hamlet’s most direct consideration of death comes in Act 4, Scene 3. His almost morbid obsession with the idea is revealed when asked by Claudius where he has hidden Polonius’ body.

HAMLET At supper ... Not where he eats, but where a is eaten. A certain convocation of politic worms are e’en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet. We fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service – two dishes, but to one table. That’s the end.

Hamlet is describing the life-cycle of human existence. In other words: we eat in life; we are eaten in death. 

Death and the Yorick Scene

The frailty of human existence haunts Hamlet throughout the play and it’s a theme he returns to in Act 5, Scene 1: the iconic graveyard scene. Holding the skull of Yorick, the court jester who entertained him as a child, Hamlet ponders the brevity and futility of the human condition and the inevitability of death:

HAMLET Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar?

This sets the scene for Ophelia’s funeral where she too will be returned to the ground.

Ophelia's Death 

Perhaps the most tragic death in "Hamlet" is one the audience doesn't witness. Ophelia's death is reported by Gertrude: Hamlet's would-be bride falls from a tree and drowns in a brook. Whether or not her death was a suicide is the subject of much debate among Shakespearean scholars.

A sexton suggests as much at her gravesite, to the outrage of Laertes. He and Hamlet then quarrel over who loved Ophelia more, and Gertrude mentions her regret that Hamlet and Ophelia could have been married.

What's perhaps the saddest part of Ophelia's death is that Hamlet appeared to drive her to it; had he taken action earlier to avenge his father, perhaps Polonius and she would not have died so tragically.

Suicide in Hamlet

The idea of suicide also emerges from Hamlet’s preoccupation with death. Although he seems to consider killing himself as an option, he does not act on this idea Similarly, he does not act when he has the opportunity to kill Claudius and avenge the murder of his father in Act 3 , Scene 3. Ironically, it is this lack of action on Hamlet’s part that ultimately leads to his death at the end of the play.

• Hamlet Themes
• 'Hamlet' Themes and Literary Devices
• 'Hamlet' Quotes Explained
• 'Hamlet' Characters: Descriptions and Analysis
• A Scene-by-Scene Breakdown of 'Hamlet'
• Hamlet Plot Summary
• 'Hamlet' Summary
• 'Hamlet' Act 1 Summary, Scene by Scene
• A Study Guide for William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet,' Act 3
• Hamlet and Revenge
• 'Hamlet' Overview
• The Prevalent Social and Emotional Themes in the Play "Hamlet"
• Hamlet Character Analysis
• 'To Be, or Not to Be:' Exploring Shakespeare's Legendary Quote
• Best Non-Hamlet Monologues From "Hamlet"
• 4 Creative Ways to Analyze Plays

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The Arabian Nights: One Thousand and One Nights

The inevitability of death in early literature anonymous college.

The Inevitability of Death as Shown by Early Literature Since the beginning of written literature, death, and the evasion of it, has been a prevalent theme. Furthermore, outside of literature, humans as a species have an instinctual fear of death and the unknown that lies beyond it. This theme has survived time and traversed across continents to influence readers from ancient Mesopotamia to modern day USA. The Epic of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia, The Bhagavad-Gītā from fourth century India, and one of the most prolific Arabian texts, The Thousand and One Nights , all contain prime examples of characters who attempt to avoid “the fate of mankind” (The Norton Anthology 76). In their own way, the characters of each of these texts avoid death at all costs, only to arrive to the same truth: death is inevitable.

One of the oldest texts known to man, the Epic of Gilgamesh , tells the story of an all-powerful man who cowers at the thought of death after his friend dies. After living his life in nothing but luxury, he realizes that one day it will all be taken from him, and, in all of his muscles, he does not have the power to change that. His battle with death begins on the day Enkidu dies; Gilgamesh feels that “after his death [he] could...

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Why Thoughts of Death Make Us Yearn for Power

Confronted by their mortality, men, more than women, seek power to ease their anxiety.

July 11, 2016

People who feel power tend to believe they are immune from harm. | Reuters/Christian Hartmann

It’s our central existential dilemma: that even as we are living, we are dying. To deal with the anxiety and fear that causes, people tend to gravitate toward worldviews and activities that give their lives meaning and reinforce a belief that they are part of something greater. Now researchers have discovered another way people cope: They crave power.

A new paper coauthored by Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Jeffrey Pfeffer found that when people are reminded of their mortality, their desire for power increases. Pfeffer also found that men feel this impulse much more strongly than women do.

“People who feel more powerful are less anxious about death,” he says.

The most widely accepted explanation of how people deal with the realization of their own mortality is known as terror management theory (TMT). It was developed in the 1980s by a group of researchers at the University of Kansas who investigated how people cope with the inevitability of their own death. Pfeffer and colleague Peter Belmi , a professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, based their new research on TMT, which suggests that the prospect of death motivates us to protect ourselves by bolstering our feelings of self-worth. And previous research has shown that feeling powerful is one way to increase an individual’s feelings of self-esteem, says Pfeffer: “When people feel powerful they tend to believe they are less vulnerable and more immune from harm.”

The two researchers conducted six experiments that involved heightened perceptions of power and an increased awareness of death. Several of the studies asked participants to write an essay about one of two things. One group was asked to write about what will happen to them physically when they die; the other group was asked to write about dental pain. After finishing their essays, they were asked to rate their level of agreement or disagreement with 10 statements, such as, “I would like to be in a powerful position in an organization,” and “In a group setting, I want to be the dominant figure.”

Quote The prospect of death motivates us to protect ourselves by bolstering our feelings of self-worth.

In another study, participants played something called the “Organizational Hierarchy Game.” Each person was assigned a role of either a CEO or a subordinate, and then asked to do tasks that fit their roles. The CEO group might read confidential salary documents, while the subordinates might type memos. Participants then watched two videos: a weather report and a medical autopsy. After each viewing they were asked to quantify the degree to which they felt tense, upset, anxious, nervous, or worried. Although all felt heightened anxiety after watching the autopsy video, subordinates were even more anxious than CEOs. Those who felt more powerful found the autopsy video less disturbing. “Power buffers people from death anxiety by providing them with psychological security,” the researchers wrote.

Their studies also found that when people are reminded of their mortality, men are more likely than women to seek power. Although there’s no definitive way to know the reason why genders respond differently, Pfeffer thinks it has to do with cultural norms.

“It’s much more socially acceptable for men to seek power than it is for women,” Pfeffer says. “Yet when women are in powerful roles, they feel the same decrease in anxiety around mortality as men, so we know the motivation is there for both.” One of the experiments in their study found that even a week after being reminded of their mortality, men were still engaging in power-seeking behaviors. “We discovered that just thinking about mortality induces a change in behavior over time,” says Pfeffer.

Power, of course, plays an important role in organizations, often determining hierarchical structures and influencing how decisions are made. Yet in the corporate world, it’s not always easy to get people to pursue powerful leadership roles. They may be reluctant to take on those jobs because of the burden of responsibility that comes with them or the sociability and networking those positions require. One way for managers to tackle that — for their male employees, at least — may be by appealing to an individual’s existential motives. Having men reflect, for example, on what kind of legacy they hope to leave behind could strengthen their motivation to seek out challenging leadership roles.

Female employees, for whom reminders of mortality don’t work the same way they do for men, shouldn’t be seen as lacking interest in having power. Because women feel a stronger need to conform to standards they view as culturally acceptable or appropriate, managers should look for other ways to motivate them to take on leadership positions. However, just knowing the desire for power is driven, in part, by anxiety about death may also give managers new insight into why some employees seek power and others don’t. Status and material wealth are certainly part of that desire, but it could also be that some employees seeking power are just coming to terms with their own mortality.

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Power and Death: Mortality Salience Increases Power Seeking While Feeling Powerful Reduces Death Anxiety Peter Belmi Jeffrey Pfeffer

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The Impact of Death on Our Everyday Lives

The conscious or unconscious fear of death can alter many aspects of behavior..

Posted October 21, 2016 | Reviewed by Lybi Ma

Most people, including mental health specialists, have failed to recognize the full significance of the impact of death on life. The fear of death arises as each child becomes aware of death’s inevitability. It is too painful to face our personal mortality directly without protecting ourselves, therefore some form of defense formation against the painful realization of death and dying becomes essential. Death awareness affects our lives in ways we may not be consciously aware of; in fact, many people would tend to deny their fear and say something like, “I don’t think about death very much.” Nevertheless, the fear of death influences fundamental aspects of their lives and motivates many of their actions.

Early in childhood , even before we are conscious of death, we develop defensive strategies to cope with emotional frustration and primitive separation anxiety . When faced with death awareness, these same defenses are intensified. As we continue to use these defenses in an attempt to avoid emotional pain and block out negative experiences, we inadvertently shut out feelings of exuberance, happiness and fulfillment as well. Although defenses do help to avert anxiety states, they are costly in that they tend to distort our experience, damage our adjustment, and deaden our emotional investment in life.

Defensive reactions to personal trauma , separation issues, and especially death anxiety impact our lives at three distinct levels:

• On an individual level, our reactions predispose withdrawal into a more inward, self-nurturing, and self-protective lifestyle;
• On an interpersonal level, our responses can trigger a retreat from love or loving relationships and/or a generalized reaction or avoidance of intimacy and sexuality ; and
• At the societal level, our fear reactions reinforce the need to give up our individuality, conform to the conventions, beliefs or mores of a particular group, institution, or nation and subordinate ourselves to charismatic leaders or authority figures. Furthermore, the in-group identification polarizes us against people who look, believe, or act differently, potentially contributing to ethnic strife, religious persecution, religious wars, or warfare in general.

Empirical Research in Terror Management Theory [TMT]

Terror Management researchers have empirically studied the effect of death awareness (salience) on human attitudes and behavior. They have specifically verified many aspects of Ernest Becker's theoretical formulations described in The Denial of Death (1973). Their findings indicate that after an experimental group was presented with the word “death” subliminally, they more strongly endorsed the worldview of their own ethnic group or nation; at the same time, they denigrated members of other groups whose worldviews differed from their own. Other studies showed that judges exposed to death salience tended to be more moralistic toward people whose behavior conflicted with society's social or moral codes. The group of judges that was exposed to death imposed sentences that were significantly harsher than the control group. Reactions to the word “death” being introduced also affected political choices. For example, two post 9/11 studies found that subjects in the high death awareness group favored a candidate who they perceived as a savior or demagogue and who insisted on an aggressive agenda toward their enemies over one who urged a more diplomatic path.

If the single word “death” introduced subliminally in an experiment can produce measurable changes in subjects' attitudes and actions, one can only imagine the powerful effect of countless events in the real world that remind people of their mortality. Witnessing a horrible accident on the freeway, watching the fatalities of war on the evening news, hearing about the death of a friend or famous person are reminders that seriously impact the nature of the sensitive human being. Even though we have become habituated and desensitized to the visual images of tragedy that we are exposed to everyday, these images still have a profound influence on our unconscious minds and significantly alter our motivations and behaviors.

The conscious or unconscious fear of death can alter many aspects of behavior. In the following I will offer a clinical example of its powerful effect on a love relationship.

Sara, a young woman of 21, met her boyfriend, Michael, on an extended vacation. They were immediately drawn to each other and eventually fell in love. Each year their love became stronger and they shared more of life together. They were particularly compatible.

Four years into their relationship Sara asked Michael if he was interested in having a child. He liked the idea and after considering the matter they began to move forward with their plan. Soon after, Sara suddenly took an about face and completely rejected the idea. In fact, she slowly began to turn against the relationship itself. Realizing that her change of mind was at the least odd, she sought help.

As Sara investigated her feelings, she revealed how she had become afraid that her life was becoming predetermined. She sensed some sort of finality. She would lose her freedom and be tied down. She was so young and would have little or no opportunity to meet other men. She knew that these reasons didn’t quite make sense because she herself had chosen Michael and had fallen in love with him and it was her idea to have the baby. Despite these considerations, she was moving steadily away from him and gradually became involved with a wild group of people at work. She was drawn to other relationships with a lot of drinking and partying. In spite of sensing that she was going in the wrong direction and maintaining a good deal of ambivalence toward Michael, Sara was driven to go in the new direction. Eventually she was in free flight away from her romantic love relationship. Worse yet, if this fear reaction were not dealt with, it might seriously impact her life in other areas.

It became obvious to Sara that her regression was inspired by a fear of time passing. The thought of entering into life as a full adult and mother terrified her. She sensed the end point of these emotional commitments and it made her painfully aware that she would eventually die. Once this fear arose, she made a desperate attempt to flee. Michael, who was once a love object, instead became part of the terror. She had to get away from him.

At present, she has continued to run and increasingly involve herself in escapist activities; yet at the same time, she is gradually coming to better understand her motives. As she develops further insight into her regression and faces her death fears more directly, there is a good chance that she can reverse this process.

Sara's type of reaction is not that uncommon in my experience; it is one example among many where unconscious death fear has had a destructive impact on the life of a person who had little or no conscious awareness that it was a factor. When people face separation issues at critical stages in their lives, they often tend to regress and back away from life. Leaving home for school, dating , living together or marrying, getting pregnant , becoming a parent and eventually a grandparent, can each cause separation anxiety and death anxiety. Regression caused by these fears can be dealt with effectively in a therapy setting characterized by insight and compassion. We need to learn as much as we can about the effects of unconscious and conscious death anxiety on human behavior in order to cope with its consequences and better understand ourselves.

Learn about Dr. Robert Firestone's forthcoming book Overcoming the Destructive Inner Voice: True Stories of Therapy and Transformation and read more from him at PsychAlive.org .

Robert W. Firestone, Ph.D. , is the author of The Fantasy Bond , Voice Therapy , Compassionate Child Rearing and many other books and articles.

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Home — Essay Samples — Arts & Culture — Art History — The Impact of Death in Shakespeare’s Hamlet

The Impact of Death in Shakespeare's Hamlet

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Published: Mar 8, 2024

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Essays About Death: Top 5 Examples and 9 Essay Prompts

Death includes mixed emotions and endless possibilities. If you are writing essays about death, see our examples and prompts in this article.

Over 50 million people die yearly from different causes worldwide. It’s a fact we must face when the time comes. Although the subject has plenty of dire connotations, many are still fascinated by death, enough so that literary pieces about it never cease. Every author has a reason why they want to talk about death. Most use it to put their grievances on paper to help them heal from losing a loved one. Some find writing and reading about death moving, transformative, or cathartic.

To help you write a compelling essay about death, we prepared five examples to spark your imagination:

1. Essay on Death Penalty by Aliva Manjari

2. coping with death essay by writer cameron, 3. long essay on death by prasanna, 4. because i could not stop for death argumentative essay by writer annie, 5. an unforgettable experience in my life by anonymous on gradesfixer.com, 1. life after death, 2. death rituals and ceremonies, 3. smoking: just for fun or a shortcut to the grave, 4. the end is near, 5. how do people grieve, 6. mental disorders and death, 7. are you afraid of death, 8. death and incurable diseases, 9. if i can pick how i die.

“The death penalty is no doubt unconstitutional if imposed arbitrarily, capriciously, unreasonably, discriminatorily, freakishly or wantonly, but if it is administered rationally, objectively and judiciously, it will enhance people’s confidence in criminal justice system.”

Manjari’s essay considers the death penalty as against the modern process of treating lawbreakers, where offenders have the chance to reform or defend themselves. Although the author is against the death penalty, she explains it’s not the right time to abolish it. Doing so will jeopardize social security. The essay also incorporates other relevant information, such as the countries that still have the death penalty and how they are gradually revising and looking for alternatives.

You might also be interested in our list of the best war books .

“How a person copes with grief is affected by the person’s cultural and religious background, coping skills, mental history, support systems, and the person’s social and financial status.”

Cameron defines coping and grief through sharing his personal experience. He remembers how their family and close friends went through various stages of coping when his Aunt Ann died during heart surgery. Later in his story, he mentions Ann’s last note, which she wrote before her surgery, in case something terrible happens. This note brought their family together again through shared tears and laughter. You can also check out these articles about cancer .

“Luckily or tragically, we are completely sentenced to death. But there is an interesting thing; we don’t have the knowledge of how the inevitable will strike to have a conversation.”

Prasanna states the obvious – all people die, but no one knows when. She also discusses the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Research also shows that when people die, the brain either shows a flashback of life or sees a ray of light.

Even if someone can predict the day of their death, it won’t change how the people who love them will react. Some will cry or be numb, but in the end, everyone will have to accept the inevitable. The essay ends with the philosophical belief that the soul never dies and is reborn in a new identity and body. You can also check out these elegy examples .

“People have busy lives, and don’t think of their own death, however, the speaker admits that she was willing to put aside her distractions and go with death. She seemed to find it pretty charming.”

The author focuses on how Emily Dickinson ’s “ Because I Could Not Stop for Death ” describes death. In the poem, the author portrays death as a gentle, handsome, and neat man who picks up a woman with a carriage to take her to the grave. The essay expounds on how Dickinson uses personification and imagery to illustrate death.

“The death of a loved one is one of the hardest things an individual can bring themselves to talk about; however, I will never forget that day in the chapter of my life, as while one story continued another’s ended.”

The essay delve’s into the author’s recollection of their grandmother’s passing. They recount the things engrained in their mind from that day –  their sister’s loud cries, the pounding and sinking of their heart, and the first time they saw their father cry. 

Looking for more? Check out these essays about losing a loved one .

9 Easy Writing Prompts on Essays About Death

Are you still struggling to choose a topic for your essay? Here are prompts you can use for your paper:

Your imagination is the limit when you pick this prompt for your essay. Because no one can confirm what happens to people after death, you can create an essay describing what kind of world exists after death. For instance, you can imagine yourself as a ghost that lingers on the Earth for a bit. Then, you can go to whichever place you desire and visit anyone you wish to say proper goodbyes to first before crossing to the afterlife.

Every country, religion, and culture has ways of honoring the dead. Choose a tribe, religion, or place, and discuss their death rituals and traditions regarding wakes and funerals. Include the reasons behind these activities. Conclude your essay with an opinion on these rituals and ceremonies but don’t forget to be respectful of everyone’s beliefs. 

Smoking is still one of the most prevalent bad habits since tobacco’s creation in 1531 . Discuss your thoughts on individuals who believe there’s nothing wrong with this habit and inadvertently pass secondhand smoke to others. Include how to avoid chain-smokers and if we should let people kill themselves through excessive smoking. Add statistics and research to support your claims.

Collate people’s comments when they find out their death is near. Do this through interviews, and let your respondents list down what they’ll do first after hearing the simulated news. Then, add their reactions to your essay.

There is no proper way of grieving. People grieve in their way. Briefly discuss death and grieving at the start of your essay. Then, narrate a personal experience you’ve had with grieving to make your essay more relatable. Or you can compare how different people grieve. To give you an idea, you can mention that your father’s way of grieving is drowning himself in work while your mom openly cries and talk about her memories of the loved one who just passed away. 

Explain how people suffering from mental illnesses view death. Then, measure it against how ordinary people see the end. Include research showing death rates caused by mental illnesses to prove your point. To make organizing information about the topic more manageable, you can also focus on one mental illness and relate it to death.

Check out our guide on  how to write essays about depression .

Sometimes, seriously ill people say they are no longer afraid of death. For others, losing a loved one is even more terrifying than death itself. Share what you think of death and include factors that affected your perception of it.

People with incurable diseases are often ready to face death. For this prompt, write about individuals who faced their terminal illnesses head-on and didn’t let it define how they lived their lives. You can also review literary pieces that show these brave souls’ struggle and triumph. A great series to watch is “ My Last Days .”

You might also be interested in these epitaph examples .

No one knows how they’ll leave this world, but if you have the chance to choose how you part with your loved ones, what will it be? Probe into this imagined situation. For example, you can write: “I want to die at an old age, surrounded by family and friends who love me. I hope it’ll be a peaceful death after I’ve done everything I wanted in life.”

To make your essay more intriguing, put unexpected events in it. Check out these plot twist ideas .

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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The Consciousness of Death : An Essay on Polanyi ’ s Understanding of Human Nature

This paper is an attempt at exploring the role played by the idea of the inevitability of death. The starting point of the paper is the assumption that the “sublimation” process emanating from the denial of death as a reality involves the creation of cultural symbols supposedly having the power to transcend death, and thereby giving human beings “immortality.” The “morbid” or “neurotic” character of such a process is emphasized, and it is argued that this process leads eventually to the denial not only of death, but also of the individuality and sociality of human beings, and therefore to a “dehumanized” state in which the basic characteristics of the “human condition” are violated. Following Polanyi, the paper also argues that any attempt to escape from this “morbid” state must start from the recognition of, and resignation to, the reality of these three facts, namely death, individuality, and sociality. Only by doing so, it is argued, can we assert our own “agency.” * I would like...

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The Ethical and Practical Failings of the Death Penalty

This essay about the death penalty argues that it is fundamentally wrong due to ethical, practical, and systemic issues. It highlights the violation of human rights, the risk of wrongful executions, and the failure of the death penalty to deter crime effectively. Additionally, it points out the significant economic burden it imposes on the judicial system and the deep-seated biases and inequalities in its application. The psychological impact on those involved in its administration is also discussed. The essay concludes that abolishing the death penalty in favor of more humane and effective approaches to justice would uphold the dignity of human life and contribute to a more equitable society.

How it works

One of the most contentious issues in the fields of criminal justice and human rights is still the death penalty. Many contemporary nations are debating the morality, effectiveness, and ramifications of the death penalty despite its historical roots. There are many reasons why the death sentence is inherently immoral, ranging from moral conundrums to pragmatic issues.

Human rights are inherently violated by the death sentence, which is one of the strongest grounds against it. The idea that each and every person has the right to life and dignity is the foundation of human rights.

By its inherent nature, the death penalty completely violates human rights. The state-approved, irreversible act of terminating a life creates a risky precedent that diminishes the value of human life. Furthermore, there is a serious possibility of erroneous executions. Since new information is frequently discovered too late, there is not always a guarantee that someone on death row will remain acquitted. This is evidence that legal systems are imperfect. Due to the death penalty’s irreversible nature, any errors made after an execution made cannot be corrected, leading to an unjust and tragic loss of life.

In addition to the moral arguments, the death penalty fails to serve as an effective deterrent to crime. Numerous studies have shown that the death penalty does not significantly reduce crime rates compared to life imprisonment. The assumption that harsher punishments lead to lower crime rates oversimplifies the complex social, economic, and psychological factors that drive criminal behavior. Instead, a more rehabilitative approach to justice, focusing on prevention, education, and social support, has proven to be more effective in reducing crime in the long term. By addressing the root causes of criminal behavior, society can foster an environment where crime is less likely to occur, rather than relying on the fear of capital punishment.

The economic burden of the death penalty also raises significant concerns. Contrary to popular belief, the process of prosecuting and executing a death sentence is far more costly than sentencing an individual to life imprisonment without parole. The extensive legal proceedings required to ensure a fair trial, including numerous appeals and lengthy trials, place a substantial financial strain on the judicial system. These funds could be better allocated to crime prevention programs, victim support services, and other areas that contribute to the overall well-being of society. By diverting resources away from the costly death penalty process, communities can invest in initiatives that have a more profound and positive impact on public safety and justice.

Furthermore, the application of the death penalty often reveals deep-seated biases and inequalities within the judicial system. Studies have shown that factors such as race, socioeconomic status, and geography can significantly influence who is sentenced to death. Minority groups and those from disadvantaged backgrounds are disproportionately represented on death row, highlighting systemic injustices. This disparity not only undermines the principle of equal justice under the law but also perpetuates cycles of discrimination and inequality. A justice system that claims to be fair and impartial cannot condone a practice that so blatantly reflects and reinforces social biases.

The psychological impact of the death penalty on those involved in its administration also warrants attention. Executioners, prison staff, and even judges and jurors can experience severe emotional and psychological distress as a result of their participation in the process. The act of taking a life, even in a legal context, can lead to long-term mental health issues and moral injury. These often-overlooked consequences further illustrate the pervasive harm caused by capital punishment, extending beyond the individuals directly affected by its implementation.

In conclusion, the death penalty is an inadequate form of punishment in contemporary society due to a number of ethical, practical, and structural problems. It infringes upon fundamental human rights, is a poor deterrent to crime, causes heavy financial costs, and exacerbates social injustices. It also causes psychological damage to those who carry out its implementation. Society may respect human life and strive toward a more just and equitable system for all by doing away with the death penalty and concentrating on more compassionate and successful methods to justice.

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Minnesota man dismembered pregnant sister, placed body parts on porch, court papers show

A Minnesota man has been arrested after police say he killed and dismembered his pregnant sister last week and placed her body parts on a stranger's front porch.

Jack Joseph Ball, 23, of Lakeville, is charged with second-degree murder with intent and second-degree murder of an unborn child in connection to the death of his 30-year-old sister, Bethany Ann Israel, court records filed Tuesday in Dakota County District Court show.

The killing reportedly took place May 23 at Ball's home in Lakeville, about 20 miles south of Minneapolis, according to the Lakeview Police Department.

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Mom discovers 'a substantial amount of blood,' court papers say

According to a five-page criminal complaint, police responded to Ball's home about 11 p.m. after the siblings' mother called 911 and reported she thought her daughter had been killed inside the residence.

The mother told arriving officers her daughter visited her son's home to have dinner earlier in the evening and when she did not hear from her, she went to the home to check on her.

She told police when she arrived, her son "tore out of the house" and when she went inside, court papers show, she saw "a substantial amount of blood" and called for help.

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Brother's journal reveals anger about sister's pregnancy

Officers entered the home and found a large amounts of blood in the kitchen and discovered a "bloody saw, hatchet, and large, bloody, knives," the complaint reads. They also reportedly found "several dismembered body parts" in the home and another bloody knife on the living room floor. 

In the home, the complaint continues, police found journals and handwritten notes from Ball expressing his anger Israel was pregnant and "no longer innocent."

A body part on the front porch

While searching for the suspect, police received a 911 call from a resident in Rosemount, a community about 11 miles northeast, reporting they watched a man through their Ring security system place a body part on their front porch.

Arriving officers located a dismembered body part believed to belong to Israel and during a search of the area around the home, found Ball near a shed in a neighboring backyard. He was covered in blood and had a "self-inflicted knife wound across his throat."

A further search of the area, the affidavit continues, found additional body parts belonging to the victim.

An autopsy revealed Israel died as a result of "complex homicidal violence" and was about 18 weeks pregnant when she was killed.

Ball was arrested and remained jailed without bond on Thursday, records show.

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GoFundMe describes woman as 'a cherished wife, daughter, sister'

According to an online fundraiser created by Kylie Contreras , Israel was "a cherished wife, daughter, sister, and an expectant mother but also a beloved figure in the volleyball community."

"Bethany’s radiant spirit and unwavering kindness touched the lives of all who had the privilege of knowing her," the fundraiser created to help raise money for funeral arrangements and her husband, Josh Israel, through financial hardship, reads.

As of Thursday it had raised more than $34,000 since it was created Tuesday.

USA TODAY has reached out to Contreras.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.

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Guest Essay

A Federal Judge Wonders: How Could Alito Have Been So Foolish?

By Michael Ponsor

Judge Ponsor is a senior judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 after serving 10 years as a federal magistrate judge.

The controversy about the decision to fly an upside-down American flag outside the home of Justice Samuel Alito recalls St. Paul’s admonition that while some things may be lawful, “not all things are helpful.”

I can offer no opinion as to whether the flag display at the justice’s house was unlawful. I won’t even opine whether my flying the flag upside-down at my house would have constituted a violation of the code of ethics that binds me and all federal judges — except the justices.

To me, the flag issue is much simpler. The fact is that, regardless of its legality, displaying the flag in that way, at that time, shouldn’t have happened. To put it bluntly, any judge with reasonable ethical instincts would have realized immediately that flying the flag then and in that way was improper. And dumb.

The same goes for the flying of an “Appeal to Heaven” flag at Justice Alito’s vacation house along the New Jersey shore. Like the upside-down flag, this flag is viewed by a great many people as a banner of allegiance on partisan issues that are or could be before the court.

Courts work because people trust judges. Taking sides in this way erodes that trust.

In four decades as a federal judge, I have known scores, possibly hundreds, of federal trial and appellate judges pretty well. I can’t think of a single one, no matter who appointed her or him, who has engaged or would engage in conduct like that. You just don’t do that sort of thing, whether it may be considered over the line, or just edging up to the margin. Flying those flags was tantamount to sticking a “Stop the steal” bumper sticker on your car. You just don’t do it.

Assuming it is true that it was Justice Alito’s wife who raised the inverted American flag, apparently in response to some provocative behavior from a neighbor, I do sympathize. (How the “Appeal to Heaven” flag came to be flown at his house is not known.) Being a judge’s spouse is not easy. On the one hand, a person should not have to forfeit the right to free expression at the marriage altar. On the other hand, it is not unreasonable to expect a spouse to avoid embarrassing a loved one or complicating his or her professional life. This is true not only for Supreme Court justices but also for people in many walks of life.

Let me offer an example. About 25 years ago, I presided over a death penalty case involving a nurse charged with murdering several of her patients at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Western Massachusetts. It was a tough case, regularly on the front pages of our local papers. Let’s say my wife was strongly opposed to the death penalty and wished to speak out publicly against it. I’m not saying this is true, but let’s imagine it. The primary emotional current in our marriage is, of course, deep and passionate love, but right next to that is equally deep and passionate respect. We would have had a problem, and we would have needed to talk.

In this hypothetical situation, I hope that my wife would have held off making any public statements about capital punishment, and restrained herself from talking about the issue with me, while the trial unfolded. On the other hand, if my wife had felt strongly that she needed to espouse her viewpoint publicly, I would have had to recuse myself from presiding over the case, based on the appearance of partiality.

However this issue came out, by the way, I certainly would not have had the temerity to claim that my wife and I never discussed the problem. Any protestation of this sort would have provoked raucous laughter from our circle of friends. They know very well that we talk about everything.

Did Justice Alito and his wife discuss the issue of the upside-down flag before it went up? I don’t know, of course. But I do know they should have. And I know that some other method should have been found to express the couple’s unhappiness with their neighbor’s possibly crummy conduct.

The court recently adopted an ethics code to “guide the conduct” of the justices. One of its canons states that a justice should “act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.” That’s all very well. But basic ethical behavior should not rely on laws or regulations. It should be folded into a judge’s DNA. That didn’t happen here. The flag display may or may not have been unlawful, but as far as the public’s perception of the court’s integrity, it certainly was not helpful.

Michael Ponsor is a senior judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994 after serving 10 years as a federal magistrate judge.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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