The natural end of every human life is death. Some people, for reasons that have never been fully understood, choose to end their own lives. This act is called suicide, which means literally "self-killing." The English physician and writer Sir Thomas Browne once commented: "Not to be content with life is the unsatisfactory state of those who destroy themselves." For all the uncertainty that has surrounded the phenomenon of suicide, his assessment of the problem is probably as accurate as any. The individual, in seemingly hopeless conflict with the world, decides to end his or her existence in what amounts to a final temper tantrum against a society that can no longer be tolerated. In so doing, the person symbolically obtains a final revenge on everything and everyone that have caused these feelings of depression. .
Sometimes suicide has been used as a form of execution. Perhaps the most famous such case is that of the philosopher Socrates, who was required to drink hemlock to end his life in 399 BC, after being found guilty of corrupting the youth of Athens (see Socrates). In the 20th century the German general Erwin Rommel took poison rather than be executed for his role in a plot to oust Adolf Hitler from office (see Rommel). .
In some societies suicide has had a social dimension. In Japan, for example, the customs and rules of one's class have demanded suicide under certain circumstances. Called seppuku--or popularly known as hara-kiri, which means "self-disembowelment"--it has long been viewed as an honorable method of taking one's life. It was used by warriors after losing a battle to avoid the dishonor of capture. Seppuku was also used as a means of capital punishment to spare warriors the disgrace of execution. In India, widows allowed themselves to be burned to death on their husband's funeral pyre, a practice called suttee. .
At least since the 18th century, suicide has been thought of by some as a romantic type of death.
