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Examples Of Existentialism In Hamlet

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"I believe that if we are honest with ourselves, that the most fascinating problem in the world is 'Who am I?' What do you mean? What do you feel when you say the word 'I, myself'? I don’t think there can be an anymore fascinating preoccupation than that because it is so mysterious. It is so elusive. Because what you are in your inmost being escapes your examination in rather the same way you can’t look into your own eyes without a mirror, you can’t bite your own teeth, you can’t taste your own tongue and you can’t touch the end of one finger with the same finger. That is why there is always an element of profound mystery in the problem of who we are." This was said by Alan Watts, a British philosopher who specialized in spiritual and social identity.

What is existentialism? To put it simply, it is the belief that people are searching to find out who and …show more content…

“Since there is no teleology, the world wasn’t created for a reason, and it doesn’t exist for a reason. If there is no reason for any of this, then there are also no absolutes to abide by: there is no comic justice, no fairness, no order, no rules.”
Since Claudius is not being punished for his wrongdoings, Hamlet believes it is now his duty to bring justice to his father’s death

Jean-Paul Sartre believes that we are shockingly and painfully free, after all, “If there are no guidelines for our actions, then each of us is forced to design our own moral code, to invent a morality to live by.”
There are a couple of examples of this in Act 3
Act 3, Scene 3: Hamlet stops himself from killing Claudius even though it would be the perfect time to because he sees Claudius praying and he believes that if he killed Claudius at that moment Claudius would go to heaven instead of hell so Hamlet waits to kill

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