In Shakespeare's plays how many suicides are recorded?

kwdesigner

13 suicides total. Romeo and Juliet - 2 Julius Caesar - 3 Othello - 1 Hamlet - 1 Macbeth - 1 Antony and Cleopatra - 5 http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/facts/facts.htm Sep 23 08, 11:20 PM

Vishnu_N

Goneril (King Lear) Juliet (Romeo and Juliet) Lady Macbeth (Macbeth) Cleopatra (Antony and Cleopatra) Brutus (Julius Caesar Mark Antony (Antony and Cleopatra) Cassius (Julius Caesar) Ophelia (Hamlet) Othello (Othello) Portia (Julius Caesar) Romeo (Romeo and Juliet) Timon (Timon of Athens) http://shakespeare.about.com/cs/generalsites/a/deathsofchars_2.htm Sep 23 08, 11:23 PM

looney_tunes

There appears to be some disagreement between sources! Here is a list of 13: "Suicide occurs an unlucky thirteen times in Shakespeare’s plays. It occurs in Romeo and Juliet where both Romeo and Juliet commit suicide, in Julius Caesar where both Cassius and Brutus die by consensual stabbing, as well as Brutus’ wife Portia, in Othello where Othello stabs himself, in Hamlet where Ophelia is said to have "drowned" in suspicious circumstances, in Macbeth when Lady Macbeth dies, and finally in Antony and Cleopatra where suicide occurs an astounding five times (Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Charmian, Iras and Eros)." http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/facts/facts.htm But this list does not include Goneril (King Lear) and Timon (Timon of Athens), who are included in the list of 12 suicides given at http://shakespeare.about.com/cs/generalsites/a/deathsofchars_2.htm Taking them together, there may be up to 15! Or, counting only those that are agreed on by both list-compilers, there may be as few as 10. Sep 24 08, 12:49 AM

Arpeggionist

And don't forget the play of Pyramus and Thisbe within a Midsummer Night's Dream, in which both title characters kill themselves, only to have the actors who play them immediately stand right back up... Sep 24 08, 4:31 AM