Weixian (Jennifer) Lu
Professor Chapin
April 30, 2017
Existentialism
Reflection on the philosophical context of existentialism in Hamlet in relation to Descartes
'Hamlet' by William Shakespeare is a play set in Denmark about a prince named Hamlet, whose uncle Claudius murders his father, inherits the throne, and marries his mother, the queen. In the play, Hamlet discovers the cause of his father's death through repeated encounters with a ghost who is supposedly the spirit of the king. Upon this realization, Hamlet is set on a mission to confirm Claudius' sins by feigning madness and creating a play that replicates the murder to register Claudius' reaction. Satisfied with what he saw, Hamlet proceeds to avenge for his father's death where his conflicting natures of morality seeps through, preventing him from taking action until it could be delayed no longer. Hamlet's internal struggles are heavily based on uncertainties that leads to his hesitation to take action. Throughout the play, he raises numerous philosophical inquires on life, death, the afterlife, and observes the absurdity of them all. In this way, Hamlet has an existential outlook on the world reflective of that of Descartes, which surfaces through many of his expressions and ultimately leads to his hesitation and uncertainty to take action, being the core themes of the play.
To begin with, it is of great importance to discuss the concept of existentialism, and Descartes' insight on reality of existence. Simply defined, existentialism is belief that existence comes before essence. When related to human beings, existentialism means mankind are made into existence first, and it is up to the individual to create his own essence through freedom of choices. Descartes was a philosopher known for his skeptical and rational way of thinking. The foundation of his philosophy was to doubt everything he believed in, and instead question how anything can be known with certainty. From this, Descartes reaches the conclusion that absolutely nothing can be known for certain, because human senses are capable of deceiving us. However, there is one thing that he is certain of, which is that he exists. Descartes reasons that he could not possibly be thinking and wondering if he existed if he did not exist. This leads to Descartes' most famous concept 'I think, therefore I am.' In other words, his ability to doubt even his own existence means he has a mind capable of thinking, and the thinking is proof of his being, so the 'I think, therefore I am'. Here is where existentialism comes in – the existence of oneself that has no meaning until one creates essence through thoughts and action to give it meaning. To be an existentialist means to have an awareness of the world, and able to capture the absurdity of it. It is to grasp the sense of meaningless in life, and realizing the responsibility to make choices is wholly upon oneself to create meaning.
Now that Descartes' fundamental philosophy on which existentialism is derived from is introduced, it becomes clear the extent to which Hamlet embodies this outlook of an existentialist from the very beginning of the play. In Act I, after Claudius addresses Hamlet's bereaved countenance with a seemingly crude manner of comfort by claiming that all fathers of sons die, Hamlet gives his first soliloquy: "O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt,/Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,/Or that the Everlasting had not fixed/His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! (Act I sc.2 l.133)." The first impression of Hamlet is a powerfully revealing one, showing him to be in a state of deep depression and in fact suicidal, with the only barrier being the conduct of it as a sin against God. Hamlet continues on to describe "How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable/Seem to me all the uses of this world!/Fie on't, ah fie! 'This an unweeded garden/That grows to seed (Act I sc.2 l.137)." This is the first indication of existentialism in Hamlet, who claims that the world he lives in appears bland, pointless, and without dimensions. Hamlet does not stop here, he also mocks the absurdity of life by making an analogy of it to a garden of weeds. While a garden is supposed to be beautiful, one of weeds is unsightly and serves no purpose. The garden is devoid of vivacity and instead appears dull, which is reflective of the way Hamlet views his own life.
This existentialistic view appears again in Hamlet's expression during a conversation with his friend Rosencrantz: "there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. (Act II sc.2 l.268)." Here, Hamlet voices the existentialist perspective by declaring that there is no pre-destined purpose to life, except the thinking of a man to impose a meaning, like Descartes' concept of 'I think, therefore I am.' This is further matched by more observed absurdities through the lens of Hamlet, who extorts almost in surprise "What a piece of work is man, how noble in/reason, how infinite in faculties/…the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals – and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? (Act II sc.2 l.327)." While Hamlet acknowledges that man is powerful and capable of accomplishing great things in a beautiful world to create his own essence based on his existence, he expresses the inability to see it for himself. To Hamlet, no matter how great man can be, he eventually turns to dust, and so all is purposeless and effort to prove otherwise seems absurd. At this point, existentialism is deeply embedded into Hamlet's thinking to indicate his apparent detachment and isolation from life, despite still being a living thing.
In Act I, Hamlet expresses his inclination towards suicide and death, while in Act II, he justifies his sense of perspective and detachment from life. The conflicting nature in Hamlet is eventually conveyed in his most known soliloquy of the play that begins with: "To be or not to be – that is the question (Act III sc.1 l.64)." This is where the previous indications to life and death amalgamates, as Hamlet allows it to all boil down to one simple question. To be, or not to be, is a philosophical phrase in the way that it shows Hamlet in a state of existentialism. It is the portrayal of his contemplation on the essence of his existence. He deliberates whether he should avenge for his father and continue his life, which he has already deemed colourless, or to commit suicide. From this, the audience can deduce that Hamlet is frustratingly indecisive and unable deal with the responsibility that comes with freedom of choice. He desires to search for a sense of purpose in life, yet he is held back with doubts and uncertainties, which makes him ponder over if he should exist at all, in which its consequence remains another uncertainty. In this way, Shakespeare uses the existentialism field of vision to establish Hamlet as a volatile character on the extreme brink of life and death. He is uncertain of his choices and meaning in life, and uncertain of the consequences of self perpetuated death, and so hopelessly stuck in a state of mind that drives him to the appearance of madness.
A turning point in Hamlet's passiveness occurs after his encounter with Fortinbras, who informs Hamlet that he is going to war over ownership of a piece of land. At first, Hamlet disapproves by reasoning that "What is a man/If his chief good and market of his time/Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more./Sure He that made us with such large discourse,/Looking before and after, gave us not/That capability and godlike reason/To dust in us unused (Act IV sc.4 l.35)." Hamlet's initial response is again inquiring after the purpose behind such decision, the essence of it all. More importantly, he questions the purpose of humanity and life to be spent only eating and sleeping, leaving the skills that God has granted on mankind unused. Hamlet reinforces the sense of absurdity he sees and the lack of meaning behind everything, emphasizing his detachment. However, Hamlet quickly comes around by suddenly marveling at Fortinbras' ability to take action, while he has relentlessly been recoiling from all action, and decides for himself "My thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth! (Act 4 sc.4 l.68)". Finally, Hamlet accepts the responsibility to give his life meaning by making a choice and abiding by the fundamental principal of existentialism.
When Hamlin accomplishes the goal to avenge his father and kill Claudius, he gave his life meaning by making a choice and accepting the responsibility of it, which in this case is death. Existentialism plays a role of irony here at the absurdity of the situation this time from the audience's point of view – as Hamlin finally gives his life essence, the result is cease of his existence, being the tragedy of the play. An interesting note here is
"If thou didn't ever hold me in thy heart,/Absent thee from felicity awhile/And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain/To tell my story (Act V sc.2 l.380)."
Between life and death, character of multiple dimensions, tragedy