The Impact of Existentialism in Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Abstract

This article attempts to treat Shakespeare as existentialism’s prolific 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 20^th century. The plays of Shakespeare and existentialist philosophy are equally fascinated by issues such as authenticity and in-authenticity, freedom of thought, being and nothingness, authenticity, freedom, and self-becoming. In recent years, Shakespearean criticism has shied away from these fundamental existentialist concerns as reflected in his play, Hamlet, preferring to investigate the historical and cultural conditioning of human subjectivity.  It aims to provide a sketch of existentialist thought and survey the influence of existentialism on readings of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It also suggests that Shakespeare and modern existentialist philosophers and thinkers share a deep interest in the creative fusion of fiction and philosophy as the most faithful means of articulating the existentialist immediacy of experience and the philosophical quandaries. My attempt is to offer the critical viewpoints of Shakespearean critics, scholars, and some well-reputed existentialist philosophers and thinkers with a view to signifying existentialist readings of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.