Suicide risk assessment: myth and reality

Abstract

To be, or not to be, that is the question - Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep; … Hamlet, III i Hamlet's soliloquy is surely the most famous expression of suicidal ideation in English literature. However, by the end of the play, it is not Hamlet, but Ophelia who has taken her own life, even though she gave no prior hint of self-destruction.