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Existentialism In Hamlet Essay

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William Shakespeare 's, The tragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark" (1603) contains the renowned "to be or not to be" soliloquy. This portion of the play is ridden with remnants of existentialist views and concepts. Existentialism is a philosophical theory that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as having free and total control in developing themselves through sheer acts of will.

Shakespeare (1603) made this way of thinking the main focus of his masterpiece. Prince Hamlet utters the phrase, “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied o 'er with the pale cast of thought” (p. 63). Brimming1 with existentialist ideology, this excerpt inspires the intellectual mind to …show more content…

The second portion of Shakespeare 's (1603) passage, "And thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied o 'er with the pale cast of thought" (p. 63) was intended to solidify the meaning of the first. Whether deducing the quote to its simple, fundamental makeup, or striving to find hidden meanings, quite a bit of processing is required. These words created a follow up conformation of exactly what Shakespeare intended by the first portion. "The native hue of resolution" (p. 63) is the first impulse of your free will compelling you to take or do whatever it is that you desire, regardless of the consequences. This "hue" (p. 63) or choice a person may choose to make appears to be "native" (p. 63) or natural, further convincing the mind that the intense desire to have what it wants immediately is the right choice.

However, Shakespeare (1603) does not leave the passage open, he closes the phrase with, "is sicklied o 'er with the pale cast of thought" (p. 63). Thought, meaning the powerful conscience that drives all human beings, steps in after the mind has nearly been convinced by the attractive, "native" (p. 63) option and draws the voice of reason to attention, as a result, redirecting the person 's train of thought to what may not necessarily benefit them, but what the person believes to be the right path

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