previous centuries was the sense that tragedies, both personal and widespread, were great punishments for sins. In particular, a tragic and untimely death was often considered some kind of spiritual retribution passed down to the individual from God himself. This certainly made sense since the medical knowledge of the day could not explain the horrible plagues that wiped out entire populations, or other such tragic events. Often what is not understood is highly feared and attributed to a greater power, and so an early death or any death preceded by an agonizing illness was considered a terrible event since they were a clear indication of God's displeasure. These conceptions were replaced in the Renaissance, especially by the time Shakespeare was writing Hamlet.
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