Existentialism in shakespeare

Existentialism in Shakespeares Hamlet

To Be or Not To Be: Existentialism in Shakespeares Hamlet

Marco D. Meduranda, MAEdMLQU-SPACEOctober 08, 2016

Meduranda, Marco

Shakespeare as existentialismsprolific precursor.

as a writer who focuses on existentialist ideas in his own distinctive theatrical and poetic terms long before they were fully developed in the philosophical and literary terms of the 20th century.

Meduranda, Marco

Provide a sketch of existentialist thoughtand explore the creative fusion of fictionand philosophy in Shakespeares Hamlet.

and existentialistsshare philosophical bondboth are linked by how human beings live in the world; how they experience themselves; how they interact with and respond to other people.

Shakespeare as Prolific Precursor of ExistentialismInterest in complex existential issues through highlighting characters that experience themselves as divided, damaged, and even dissolved.

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In Shakespearean tragedy, the idea that human beings have an intimate, inward self-experience broadens into a wider consideration of ethics and politics of human existence. His plays do not establish ethical boundaries in a prescriptive or didactic way, but they imply that ethical limits and feelings of inwardness are connected.

Shakespeare as Prolific Precursor of Existentialism

REVISITING EXISTENTIALISMWhat you are (essence) is the result of your choices (existence)Individuals pursuit of identity and meaningIt entails our capacity to take hand in our own development.being true to oneself and avoiding bad faith

Existence precedes essence: What you are (your essence) is the result of your choices (your existence) rather than the reverse. Essence is not destiny. You are what you make yourself to be (8). Humanism: Existentialism is a person-centered philosophy. Though not anti-science, its focus is on the human individuals pursuit of identity and meaning ... (Ibid.). Freedom/Responsibility: Existentialism is a philosophy of freedom. Its basis is the fact that we can stand back from our lives and reflect on what we have been doing. In this sense, we are always more than ourselves. But we are as responsible as we are free (Ibid. 8-10). Authenticity: being true to oneself and avoiding bad faith (mauvaisefoi). It is the way human beings come to know themselves. Bad faith is self-deception. In Hamlet, Polonius advises his son This above all: to thine own self be true / And it must follow, as the night the day / Thou canst not then be false to any man (I. iii. 78-80). Authenticity (eigentlich) is reflected in the integrity of characterthe very thing Hamlet strives to maintain. For Hedayat, this authenticity is only possible when people constantly remind themselves that they will die someday and there is no escape from it; then, they can be true to themselves. As the narrator in The Blind Owl says, Only death does not lie. [...] It is death that rescues us from the deceptions of life (Hedayat, 2010 [1937]: 84).

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REVISITING EXISTENTIALISMExistentialismholds that every person exists first and his nature, or essence, comes about later through the manner by which he chooses to live his life. Thisstarting point isoften called "the existential attitude," a sense of distress andconfusionas one is faced with an apparently absurd, or meaningless world. In this absurdity, then, man must create his own essence, and in so doing he must be responsible for this essence; he cannot blame his actions on his nature. While this responsibility for one's actionsbrings about anguishin each person, the freedom to become what one chooses is also liberating.

HAMLET: A SUMMARY

HAMLET: THE EXISTENTIAL ATTITUDEHamlet displays "the existential attitude" throughout the play, especially in his soliloquies.In his first soliloquy of Act I, he contemplates theabsurdityof the world,How weary, stale, flat and unprofitableSeem to me all the uses of this world! (1.2.136-137)

EXISTENTIAL CREATION OF SELFIn Act II, Hamlet speaks with Guildenstern and Rosencrantz,alluding to the existential creation of self, Hamlet tells them,for there is nothing eithergood or bad but thinking makes it so. (2.2.257)

ESSENCE OF MANAlso with Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, Hamletreflects upon the essence of man, albeit sarcastically,What a piece of work is a man! hownoble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and movinghow express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world, theparagon of animals! And yet to me what is this quintessenceof dust? Man delights not me(2.2.308-313)

ALIENATION AND HIS DISAPPOINTMENTIn this same scene, in a soliloquy, Hamlet contemplates his alienation and his disappointment in his attempts to find his essence:Now I am alone.O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I! (2.2.542-543)

MEANING OF EXISTENCEHis famous "to be or not to be" soliloquy is quintessentially existential as he contemplates the very meaning of existence,To be, or not to be that is the question;Whether tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortuneOr to take arms against a sea of troublesAnd by opposing end them; to die: to sleep No more, and by a sleep to say we end. (III.i.55-60)Hamlet comes to realize that he exists in a crudely basic sense of the word: as a material being, he has a fundamental and irreducible corporeality.

Hamlet reasons that people do not end their woes and tribulationsbecause they do not know if they may have to face worse burdens in the next life after death. And, thus, Hamlet concludes,Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;And thus the native hue of resolutionIs sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,And enterprises of great pith and momentWith this regard their currents turn awry,And lose the name of action.(III, i, 83-88).

MEANING OF EXISTENCE

MEANING OF EXISTENCEBut he also understands that he exists in another way: his consciousness allows him to go beyond the givens of his existence. This space between what existentialists call facticity and transcendence or between essence and existence is where the possibility of freedom resides. As Hamlet comes to terms with the practical constraints of his situation, he finds that he is released to act. Hamlet consciously decides to throw himself back into the fray: he chooses to act on his terms.

Man is free because he is not himself but presence to himself. The being which is what it is can not be free. Freedom is precisely the nothingness which is made-to-be at the heart of man and which forces human-reality to make itself instead of to be.

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RESPONSIBILITYThroughout the play, Hamlet essays to define man and his essence and toact with deliberation and responsibility as a man. Jean-Paul Sartre, a leading Existentialist declared, "Etre homme, etre responsable"[to be man is to be responsible], and Hamlet truly becomes responsible after he observes Fortinbras in Act IV,...a delicate and tender prince,Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd,Makes mouths at the invisible event,Exposing what is mortal and unsureTo all that fortune, death, and danger dare,Even for an eggshell. (4.4.50-55)

You can divide the soliloquy into five thematic sections:The first section identifies Hamlet's mission: revenge. Hamlet says that everything he encounters prompts him to revenge: "How all occasions do inform against me / And spur my dull revenge!"The second section exhorts him to act. Hamlet must stop over-thinking events and recognize in himself the strength, and means to complete the required actThe third section sets Fortinbras' example of how Hamlet should act. "Led by this army of such mass and charge, / Led by a delicate and tender Prince . . . to all that fortune, death and danger dare, / Even for an eggshell." Once again Fortinbras holds up a mirror to his Danish counterpart.The fourth section specifies Hamlet's perplexity over the Poles' and Norwegians' willingness to die for so little in contrast to his own inability to act on so much.The fifth section provides resolution. Hamlet resolves to avenge his father at last.

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AUTHENTICITYHamlet knows that he is surrounded by in-authentic people. dislike to Claudius messenger Osric, referring to him as a water-fly (V.ii.69) and a lapwing (V.ii165). Osric is a man whom the drossy age dotes on (V.ii.169), says Hamlet, because he plays the tune of the time (V.ii.169-70). He condemns the customary wedding revelries that result in Denmark being traduced and taxed (I.iv.18)

Hamlet, on the other hand, struggles to remain authentic, not to conform to fatuous habits or customsthe habits or customs demand him not to mourn for his dead father; they demand that he rejoices at the marriage of his late fathers widow, even though he found it temerarious. Hamlet believes it is more honorable to break these feigned customs than to abide by them:HoratioIsitacustom?HamletAy,marry,itis, But to my mind, though Iam native hereAnd to the manner born, it isa customMore honored in the breach than the observance. (I. iv. 12-16)

He finds it difficult to avenge his fathers murder because this action has been prescribed for him rather than authentically chosen. Yet he feels an obligation to fulfill such expectations. Most existentialists concur that a large portion of human existence is lived in-authentically or in bad faith. Human beings find self-truth difficult, perhaps even impossible.

AUTHENTICITY

n existentialist philosophy, authenticity is the extent to which we are true to our personalities, character, and values, despite external pressures.

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AUTHENTICITYAuthenticity, for existentialists, involves recognition of the unavoidably inauthentic quality of life, awareness that men are all drawn into the world and cannot disassociate themselves from it. Hamlet becomes the person he is by defining himself in the heat of action; he engages in the process of self-becoming.

ConclusionThe play, Hamlet functions as a terrifying reminder of our own existential fragility and vulnerability.The speeches and sayings of Hamlet are as real as our own thoughts. Their reality is in the readers mind. It is we who are HamletWe need to assert ourselves and read Shakespeare as strenuously as we can, while knowing that his plays will read us more energetically still. They read us definitively (Bloom, 1999)Shakespeares interest in existential concerns is a fundamental aspect of his continuing appeal. His plays have something to say about the experience of being human, and we have something to learn from such existential explorations.