Why do people romanticize death and suicide?

[Dreamer]

I romanticize death at times. I think about how I would like to go and the ideal situation as well. It seems very peaceful to me. The thought of lying there in pure quite. One thing that keeps me alive is knowing that death is permanent. In reality, I just need a brief reprieve from life in such times.

 

[senza tema]

From Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book 2, Chapter 3

Life is the light and warmth of the mead hall but you still do wonder sometimes what became of that sparrow in the wintry storm outside.

 

[thepink-cloakedninja]

Because when it's what you want, you romanticize it in your head, and put it on a pedestal.

 

[McBoatFace]

There is a sense of redemption at the end of a story. No matter how things might be going right now, there's a comfort in the hope that, in the end, you'll be proven right, you'll be vindicated, your trials and tribulations will lead to a coherent outcome at your death. No matter what we may have seen or done, we can fantasize that our death will wipe the slate clean.

And there's an attention/sympathy angle as well. Death commands attention, whether the fantasy is to die as the centre of attention of loved ones, or in a final act of revenge against your enemies, or quietly - to be revered or pitied later as a brave unknown soldier. We intrinsically understand that our death will stir the emotions of the rest of humanity, and that's a powerfully seductive narrative.

Then there's the inevitability of it. No matter what predictions may have failed to come true, we are sure that each of us will die. It's a scenario that could provide all the glory that a hardwon achievement may offer, and we don't even need to do anything to attain it. In that sense, it can be the final thing we can look forward to, if we turn it into a fantasy rather than moment of failure in our minds.

 

[Lark]

I've noticed this, I despise it, I think its part of the Malthusian ideology of the ruling classes, which is now shared by most classes and most people because the ruling classes have the money and the push to disseminate their views to everyone else.

Its all kill others, kill yourself, kill the sick, kill the needy, kill the so called surplus population, kill your children, kill your dependents, sing the song of Kali all day long.

I choose something else, to live the love of life, to hope and struggle despite the suffering or pain or anything else that life involves and implies.

 

[ColonelGadaafi]

because life can be so hard sometimes, death just looks like a good thing.

 

[Flâneuse]

I'm sure there are a multitude of reasons for romanticizing death and that it differs with the individual. One reason that I can think of is that it's hard to comprehend that death is really nothingness....you can’t really imagine what it's like to not exist and instead can only imagine states that seem closer to nonexistence like emptiness and stillness. So it's easy to project things that are actually part of life onto the idea of death, like thinking of death as a beautiful state of peace and stillness. (Or conversely as a state of darkness and deprivation, which makes death seem scarier rather than more beautiful.) It’s none of those things, because those things have to be experienced to exist, and when you’re dead there’s probably no experience and no “you”. For people who are weary of life and desperate for an escape, I think it would be easier to fall into the way of thinking that death is peace, or a way of feeling better.

 

[Mechnick]

Because, they are morbid. I m pro-life.

Fuck death.

 

[Yara the Corpse]

When I'm not motivated as much by anything, be it relationships, money, hunger, power, pleasure etc. I have to inspire myself instead by removing anything that makes action undesirable, such as anxiety and fear. And to remove anxiety and fear I have to remind myself that nothing matters and that I'm going to eventually die, which is a kind of motivation I've been trying to use for a few years. It is sort of helpful for me to think of death and how temporary I am just so I can feel like I can do something without it affecting me badly..... everything neutralizes itself, so what does it matter that I did that one thing? And yes it also helps with indecisiveness, I need a lil kick instead of wondering about what could happen.

But ye if I weren't at least a little chaotic and reckless in what I did, I'd probably be depressed/apathetic/indecisive as a result, and I don't want that. I want to not give a fuck. I need to be that way for me to move forward if I can't just do it purely for a future goal or reward. I have to do what makes me happy in the moment.


Other people may romanticize death and suicide because people like to be attached to things that make their life meaningful. Death might be a sort of final goal for them, something to be attracted to so that they can feel accomplished with their life.

edit: and I'm a pretty positive person I think, I like to see the best in everything, which is exactly why I'm the kind of person who can benefit from seeing death in the distance, it's a neutral thing to me and I can be inspired from it

 

[Mole]

The Romantic Movement is a long standing response to the Western Enlightenment of evidence and reason in the 17th century.

And the Romantic Movement romanticises anything that is the opposite of evidence and reason. So suicide and death are romanticised because they are mystical responses that require no evidence or reason.

Drugs are also romanticised because they are the opposite of evidence and reason, and drugs are romanticised because they defy authority, particularly the authority of our parents.

And interestingly sex has also been romanticised because it is orgiastic and not reasonable.

There is no end to things romanticised, but they are all in reaction to evidence, reason, and authority.

The Romantic Movement is reactionary.

 

[Wunjo]

Fear of the unknown may get the better of us mostly, the anxiety of death can a critical factor in the development of a neurosis, so, neurotically, people romanticise death, in order to prevent the feeling of anxiety.

 

[hjgbujhghg]

I think it has to do a lot with the sense of control of own death.

 

[Smilephantomhive]

If something sucks then you might as well make it pretty.

But yeah I think it's a coping mechanism.

 

[Draconic]

Sometimes it's easier that way

 

[VILLANELLE]

Because they find beauty in sadness, I guess. In death, so many people suddenly become perfect angels when they might not have been. Don't speak ill of the dead and all of that.

I don't think that stuff should be romanticized, it's unhealthy.