self-slaughter
Ending one's life
Self-slaughter is a literary or archaic term for suicide—the act of killing oneself.
The word appears most famously in Shakespeare's Hamlet, where the prince laments that God has "fix'd his canon 'gainst self-slaughter." Unlike the clinical term suicide, self-slaughter emphasizes the violence of the act and carries moral weight, often implying sin or transgression.
It survives mainly in literary contexts and historical religious discussions.
Danish prince's revenge tragedy
- soliloquyDramatic speech to oneself
- ShakespeareElizabethan dramatist and poet
- OpheliaGreek name meaning help
- MacbethAmbitious thane's downfall
tragedy · catharsis · pathos · downfall · fate · hubris · catastrophe · Cato
State without hope
- anguishIntense mental suffering
- desolationState of complete emptiness
- miseryIntense prolonged distress
- sufferingSustained experience of distress
torment · despondency · melancholy · grief · sorrow · woe · heartache · dejection
Violation of divine law
- forbiddenNot allowed
- mortal sinGrace-destroying spiritual offense
- sacrilegeViolation of the hallowed
- damnationEternal punishment decree
unhallowed · unconsecrated · stigma · shame · dishonor · burial · purgatory · judgment
Hamlet
Danish prince's revenge tragedy
- soliloquyDramatic speech to oneself
- ShakespeareElizabethan dramatist and poet
- OpheliaGreek name meaning help
Macbeth · tragedy · catharsis · pathos · downfall · fate · hubris · catastrophe · Cato · Antigone
hopelessness
State without hope
- anguishIntense mental suffering
- desolationState of complete emptiness
- miseryIntense prolonged distress
suffering · torment · despondency · melancholy · grief · sorrow · woe · heartache · dejection · affliction
sin
Violation of divine law
- forbiddenNot allowed
- mortal sinGrace-destroying spiritual offense
- sacrilegeViolation of the hallowed
damnation · unhallowed · unconsecrated · stigma · shame · dishonor · burial · purgatory · judgment · condemnation
self-slaughterhomicide
Causing another's death
murder · manslaughter · assassination · fratricide · patricide
self-slaughterself-preservation
Instinct to survive danger
survival · will to live · endurance · perseverance · carrying on
self, slaughter, selves, selfish, selfhood, selfless, selfishly, selfishness, selflessness