Suicide in literature a crime of passion in "Othello". The play "Antony and Cleopatra" ends with five suicides, including the deaths of both Antony and Cleopatra. Ophelia commits suicide in "Hamlet" following the death of her father. The subject of suicide itself is controversial. While the act of suicide can be symbolic in literature, the act itself still possesses the ability to cause controversy in the real world. Kate Chopin's novel, "The Awakening", was extremely controversial when it was released in 1899. Some authors who have created characters that commit suicide have committed suicide themselves. Ernest Hemingway shot himself in 1961; Some of
Mass suicide in Demmin Spiegel" (2005) put the death toll at "more than 1,000." The NDR stated that "nearly a thousand women and children committed suicide." Bauer (2008) wrote that "some thousand people committed suicide, mostly by drowning." According to psychologist Bscheid (2009) and jurist and sociologist Volkersen (2005), it was the largest recorded mass suicide in Germany. Both mentioned 900 suicides. Rostock historian Fred Mrotzek estimated that the death toll was 1,200 to 2,500 people. Under the Communist East German government, the mass suicide became a taboo. The site of the mass graves was deliberately not cared for, became overgrown, and was at