Essay on 'Hamlet' Characters

There are many existential questions that modern philosophers still have yet to answer. Some of these questions follow the question of Who am I? What is my purpose in life? How do I know what to believe? Many philosophers have spent their entire lives trying to answer these questions but none have been able to truly answer those questions before their death. The philosophy of existentialism is an interesting phenomenon. The dictionary defines existentialism as 'a chiefly 20th-century philosophical movement embracing diverse doctrines but centering on analysis of individual existence in an unfathomable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad ('Existentialism'). The character Hamlet from Shakespeare’s marvelous play Hamlet explores these existential questions. Hamlet is trying to find his purpose in life and he goes on a journey to find the truth and understand how his father died. This is how Hamlet truly becomes an existential character.

Hamlet is a prince who is a university student and spends a lot of his time thinking about many difficult philosophical questions. When Hamlet's father who was the king of Denmark, dies, he returns home to figure out the real reason for his father's through investigating those around him. The Ghost of the dead King Hamlet, tells Prince Hamlet that Claudius, his uncle, is the murderer. The rest of the play is about Prince Hamlet's journey to find the truth about his father's death and whether his uncle, Claudius, has anything to do with his murder. Hamlet uses many strategies to figure out if his uncle did it and tries to find his uncle's guilt to use as evidence before investigating as it is a very risky task. Throughout his journey, Hamlet uses his intellect and attempts to ignore his emotions as it would make him irrational. Hamlet's logic causes him to delay killing his uncle Claudius even with all of his chances until the final scene of the play which makes Prince Hamlet an existential character.

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Throughout the beginning of the play, Hamlet acts as if he is intelligent and only acts upon logic. Hamlet does not use his instincts as it is his emotions and he uses logic and thinks about what he should do or believe. One example of this is when Hamlet encounters his father's ghost. He is very suspicious if it was his father. Although Hamlet is emotional he only uses logic and does not jump on his emotions but thinks about what he should do. Hamlet says, “Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell, Why thy canonized bones, hearsed in death, Have burst their cerements . . . Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do?” (1.4 .46-48,57). Although Hamlet is confused by the sight of his father’s ghost his intellectual thinking intellect. However, his emotions tell him otherwise. However, he maintains his emotions and sticks to having doubts about the ghost being real. Further on, Prince Hamlet has a plan to test if his uncle murdered his father by testing his guilt. He plans a play to be shown in front of his uncle that is meant to reenact his father's murder to see if what his father's ghost told him was true.

Even though Hamlet comes off as the epitome of someone who is an anti-existentialist, Hamlet's logic slowly begins to be revealed throughout every scene. Hamlet's emotions are like an onion, with every layer you peel away, the reader can learn more about his feelings and emotions. Hamlet says the famous lines, “To be, or not to be: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer, The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles” (3.1.58-61). Hamlet has many emotions and feelings that begin to get in the way of his judgment; such as anxiety. This along with the tension causes emotions to get in the way of only reasoning. Eventually, Hamlet starts to realize that reasoning is crucial to dealing with the meaning and depth of human life; Which is one of the central ideations of existentialism. One of the reasons why Hamlet pretends to be insane is because he knows that he does not have the emotions that are necessary to avenge his father's death. In Act 1, scene 2, Hamlet becomes temporarily insane to act out of pure emotions without any logical thought about consequences for anything he may say or act on. This is shown when Hamlet criticizes Ophelia when she does not deserve it. Even though Hamlet is unifying his logic with his emotions he is very cautious to avoid committing suicide as it is viewed as a sin and a person would be sent straight to hell. Suicide was viewed as morally wrong during the 1600’s. So because Hamlet decided to stay alive and fight Claudius’ corrupt ways, Hamlet is demonstrating existential qualities.

During Act 4, Hamlet encounters isolation, loneliness, and emptiness when he meets a Norwegian captain under the rule of Fortinbras. After Hamlet asks the captain the reason for the conflict he learns that the countries’ armies will go to war over little plots of land. The caption states, “a little patch of land / That hath in it no profit but the name' (4.4. 98-99). Once Hamlet is no longer shocked by what the captain had just told him, he is confused by the reasonings why Fortinbras would put thousands of lives at risk over a small “patch of land”. Hamlet is having problems with the fact that he is still unable to get himself to kill Claudius, this is even with Claudius knowing of his guilt. Even though Hamlet has every good reason to kill Claudius, he fails to act. This raises the question; How is Fortinbras able to throw away so many lives for such a small and pitiful purpose? This is why during this scene, Hamlet can realize how tough and brutal life is. This is one of the main ideas of existentialism as it gives the idea that no one is safe.

It is at this point when Fortinbras arrives with his army that Hamlet's views change and he declares that his thoughts would be bloody, “My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!” (4.4.66). Hamlet is impressed by the forcefulness of characters like Fortinbras and Laertes, who turn thought into action quickly (Phillips). Laertes, who, like Hamlet, has a father to avenge, does not hesitate for a moment when seeking vengeance on his father's murderer. As Hamlet decides to strive for this personal quality, he begins to act increasingly existential and decreasingly reflective. When Hamlet finally does achieve his father’s vengeance, he is not spurred to it on his own, but by watching his mother and Ophelia die in front of his own eyes. Furthermore, as Hamlet realizes that he has only two minutes to survive, he has nothing to lose; this is when he makes his move to stab and poison Claudius.

Prince Hamlet is introduced as a reflective, slow-to-act character. While he stays true to this characterization for almost the entire play, he does transform by the end of the play. By the end, Hamlet decides that he is no longer going to deprive himself of the revenge he so badly desires against Claudius, so he kills him. At this point, Hamlet is existential. He is the only character who fights back against Claudius’s usurpation of the throne, and he accepts the consequences of his actions (i.e. death) without a flinch. This final existential act is what qualifies Hamlet as an existential character in an existential drama at a time when existentialism did not exist in literature.

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3. Roberts, Edgar V., and Robert Zweig. Literature: an Introduction to Reading and Writing. Pearson, 2015.