History DrivenToSuicide / Theatre

** RichardWagner's ''Tristan und Isolde'' has Isolde requesting a Potion of Death in the first act. When she drinks it, it turns out to have been switched with the LovePotion.

* In ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', the famous "To be, or not to be" line is from a soliloquy of the title character after he found that his uncle Claudius had killed his father Hamlet Sr. and had married his mother Gertrude, and comparing the shock to that of someone contemplating suicide. One interpretation is that Ophelia's death really is a suicide.
** Third example from ''Hamlet'' is Horatio, who attempts to die with Hamlet by drinking the remainder of the poisoned wine that killed Gertrude. Hamlet has to wrestle the chalice away from him and talk him into living. It's not the most inspiring speech, but it works.
** Also from Creator/WilliamShakespeare, in ''Theatre/KingLear'', after Gloucester is blinded, he asks someone to take him to a cliff so he can jump off. The disguised Edgar takes him up on it, but tricks him into thinking he's at a cliff when really he's on a flat plain. It can be hard to direct; after all, if not pulled off correctly, the scene can just [[IncrediblyLamePun fall flat on its face]].
** ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' both kill themselves at the end, Romeo because he wanted to join Juliet in death (but tragically, he didn't know that Juliet was only FakingTheDead because the information that Friar Lawrence had intended for him never arrived), and Juliet because she wanted to join Romeo in death.

* S.P. Miskowski's ''my new friends (are so much better than you)'' is based on the forementioned RealLife tragedy of Megan Meier, who hanged herself after being bullied by a friend's mother masquerading as a teenage boy named Josh Evans on MySpace.

* [[spoiler: Jason]] in bare: a pop opera. He's feeling so much angst about being gay, he got [[spoiler: Ivy]] pregnant, his friends have left him and when he asks Peter to run away with him, Peter refuses and says he can't hide anymore. The audience is left drowning in their own tears.

** ''Theatre/MadameButterfly'', in its tragic [[TearJerker tearjerking]] finale, has poor Cio-Cio-San committing ''{{seppuku}}'' with the dagger given to her by the Mikado after learning that her lover Pinkerton is not coming for her like he promised her he would and that he has married another.

*** And the Broadway interpretation MissSaigon does something similar, when the protagonist shoots herself both in despair over the loss of Chris and to force him to take their son Tam back to America with him.

** Ajax, after his madness dissipates, is in such a state of dishonour that he cannot allow himself to try and reconcile with the [[UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar Greeks]] in ''Theatre/{{Ajax}}'', in spite of the pleas of his family and friends. He tricks them into thinking is is fine but then goes off to commit suicide on [[{{Irony}} Hektor's sword]].

** Floria Tosca of the opera ''{{Tosca}}'' throws herself off a tower after a harrowing BreakTheCutie ordeal that ends with her being forced to accept the original ScarpiaUltimatum to keep her lover Mario Cavaradossi from being executed, killing Scarpia before he can rape her, and then finding out that he had ordered Mario's real execution instead of the false one he had promised her if she agreed to it.

* ''Very'' prominent in Greek tragedy.

* ''Theatre/TheChildrensHour''': [[spoiler:Martha actually does commit suicide after the rumor of her being a lesbian becomes too much.]]
** To specify: She considers her and her best friends lives ruined because of said rumor, a rumor that occured because [[spoiler:she ''did'' have feelings for Karen]]. Karen's fiance [[spoiler:leaving her due to doubting her fidelity]] only made everything worse. Combine this extra stress and guilt with the fact she's a lesbian in TheTwenties, possibly TheThirties, and the fact she has an unrequited love and...

* Creator/HenrikIbsen ''loved'' this trope. He wrote suicidal characters in ''Theatre/ADollsHouse'', ''Ghosts'' (assisted suicide), ''Theatre/TheWildDuck'', ''Theatre/{{Rosmersholm}}'', and ''HeddaGabler''. Not all of them go through with it, but for those five plays, the final tally is: 4 suicides in the text, 1 in the backstory, and possibly 2 others, depending on your character interpretation. As great a writer as he was, Ibsen really could have used a hug.

* Four words: ''DeathOfASalesman''.

** ''MadameButterfly'', in its tragic [[TearJerker tearjerking]] finale, has poor Cio-Cio-San committing ''{{seppuku}}'' with the dagger given to her by the Mikado after learning that her lover Pinkerton is not coming for her like he promised her he would and that he has married another.

* ''TheChildrensHour''': [[spoiler:Martha actually does commit suicide after the rumor of her being a lesbian becomes too much.]]

* [[TheWoobie Moritz Stiefel]] in SpringAwakening. He's a decent, hard-working kid trying to deal with schoolwork and his parents making him feel like a total pariah at home when he doesn't get top marks, plus guilt and shame over his changing body and sexual urges. He seems to get a break when he finds out he passed the midterms. Whereupon they fail him anyway because the school can't pass everyone. He then appeals to his best friend's mother, who apparently doesn't give a poo about his angst and ignores his cry for help, and his parents - well... After that, a (female) childhood friend offers him comfort, but he's so conflicted, he refuses and she storms off, very hurt. And then the poor boy puts a pistol in his mouth. And most of the audience walk away with broken hearts.

* ''CyranoDeBergerac'':

* In the backstory of ''{{Rent}}'', Roger's girlfriend April slit her wrists after testing HIV-positive.
* In ''JesusChristSuperstar'' Judas hanged himself shortly after betraying Jesus.

** Ajax, after his madness dissipates, is in such a state of dishonour that he cannot allow himself to try and reconcile with the [[TheTrojanWar Greeks]] in ''Theatre/{{Ajax}}'', in spite of the pleas of his family and friends. He tricks them into thinking is is fine but then goes off to commit suicide on [[{{Irony}} Hektor's sword]].

* In ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' Judas hanged himself shortly after betraying Jesus.
* In DorothyLSayers's ''Theatre/TheEmperorConstantine'', Maximian. Or so one soldier recounts to another, who doesn't believe it -- Maximian had tried to assasinate Constantine, and Constantine only threw him in jail? Much more likely he was disposed of.

** Magda Sorel in ''TheConsul'', having failed after many visits to get the Secretary to give her something besides paperwork, gasses herself to death at home.

* Creator/HenrikIbsen ''loved'' this trope. He wrote suicidal characters in ''Theatre/ADollsHouse'', ''Ghosts'' (assisted suicide), ''The Wild Duck'', ''Rosmersholm'', and ''HeddaGabler''. Not all of them go through with it, but for those five plays, the final tally is: 4 suicides in the text, 1 in the backstory, and possibly 2 others, depending on your character interpretation. As great a writer as he was, Ibsen really could have used a hug.

* ''LesMiserables'' had, like the Literature section, [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Inspector]] [[InspectorJavert Javert]] [[ItWasHisSled do this]].

* [[TheWoobie Moritz Stiefel]] in SpringAwakening. He's a decent, hard-working kid trying to deal with schoolwork and his parents making him feel like a total pariah at home when he doesn't get top marks, plus guilt and shame over his changing body and sexual urges. He seems to get a break when he finds out he passed the midterms. Whereupon they fail him anyway because the school can't pass everyone. He then appeals to his best friend's mother, who apparently doesn't give a poo about his angst and ignores his cry for help, and his parents - [[ItGotWorse well]]. After that, a (female) childhood friend offers him comfort, but he's so conflicted, he refuses and she storms off, very hurt. And then the poor boy puts a pistol in his mouth. And most of the audience walk away with broken hearts.

* HenrikIbsen ''loved'' this trope. He wrote suicidal characters in ''Theatre/ADollsHouse'', ''Ghosts'' (assisted suicide), ''The Wild Duck'', ''Rosmersholm'', and ''HeddaGabler''. Not all of them go through with it, but for those five plays, the final tally is: 4 suicides in the text, 1 in the backstory, and possibly 2 others, depending on your character interpretation. As great a writer as he was, Ibsen really could have used a hug.

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** Also from {{Shakespeare}}, in ''Theatre/KingLear'', after Gloucester is blinded, he asks someone to take him to a cliff so he can jump off. The disguised Edgar takes him up on it, but tricks him into thinking he's at a cliff when really he's on a flat plain. It can be hard to direct; after all, if not pulled off correctly, the scene can just [[IncrediblyLamePun fall flat on its face]].

* [[spoiler: Jason]] in bare: a pop opera. He's feeling so much angst about being gay, he got [[spoiler: Ivy]] pregnant, his friends have left him and when he asks Peter to run away with him, Peter refuses and says he can't hide anymore. The audience is left drowning in their own tears.