Existentialism In Hamlet

Existentialism is a twentieth-century philosophy, but its proponents have made a
practice of discovering existentialist attitudes and structures in earlier works, particularly
drama. Thus, although Shakespeare would not have recognized the term, there is nothing
unreasonably anachronistic in searching for existentialist thought in his work or, for that
matter, in Seneca or Sophocles. An existentialist philosopher would contend that, though only
recently diagnosed, what we now call existentialism has always been there.

There are several schools of existentialism and various philosophers and writers who
refined the concept (some of whom, like Albert Camus, did not call themselves existentialists).
As applied to drama, however, the central ideas of existentialism can be put like this. Thelacks
an essence. This makes his/her life inauthentic and causes angst. A crisis forces the
protagonist to make a choice and determine what his/her essence will be and therefore
what...