FREE ESSAY ON HAMLET: NOTHING MATTERS

HAMLET: NOTHING MATTERS

Hamlet: Nothing Matters
Do we matter? Will anything we do endure? These are questions from existentialism. The
dictionary defines existentialism as "the plight of the individual who must assume
ultimate responsibility for his acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what
is right or wrong or good or bad" (Merriam Webster). In the play Hamlet by William
Shakespeare, Hamlet struggles with the concept that nothing from our lives last and time
grinds everything away. Hamlet's major conflict was his existentialist view of the
world.
Does a prince of Denmark have any worth if "Alexander died, Alexander was buried,
Alexander returneth into dust; the dust is earth; of earth we make loam; and why of that
loam, whereto he was converted, might they not stop a beer-barrel? Imperious Caesar, dead
and turn'd to clay, Might stop a hole to keep the wind away" ( V. i. 206-209)? Hamlet saw
examples of lives crumbling to dust. Twenty thousand men and twenty thousand ducats are
spent on "A little patch of ground that hath in it no profit but the name. To pay five
ducats, five, I would not farm it." ( IV. iiii. 19-21). These lives are expended for
nothing and even Hamlet's father, a good and wise king, was murdered with only Hamlet
mourning for an extended period. The king's wife said "Seek for thy noble father in the
dust: Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die, Passing through nature to
eternity." ( I. ii. 72-74) and she later encourages Hamlet to stop pretending to mourn
for his father. Hamlet protests that he feels actual grief for his father but he fears
that his father's life is already becoming meaningless. 
This existentialist worldview forced Hamlet to overanalyze before action because he
wanted his acts to have a lasting impact. He becomes too contemplative about decisions.
He would not murder Claudius in spite of the ghost of his father ordering him until the
play proved guilt. Even with this proof, Hamlet will not kill Claudius during prayer
because he believes his decision will matter and he must choose wisely. In the graveyard,
Hamlet saw people's skulls and wondered what the courier's compliments or the jester's
tricks had brought them but another spot in the earth. Hamlet saw the acts of well
respected men not protect them from the grave and anonymity when he said, "This fellow
might be in's time a great buyer of land, with his statutes his recognizances, his fines,
his double vouchers, his recoveries: is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of
his recoveries, to have his fine pate full of fine dirt? will his vouchers vouch him no
more of his purchases, and double ones too, than the length and breadth of a pair of
indentures? The very conveyances of his lands will hardly lie in this box; and must the
inheritor himself have no more" ( V. i. 98-103). Hamlet's inaction appeared in his
relationship with Ophelia. He admitted at her grave that he loved her but he did not
attempt to have more than a physical relationship. Hamlet's fear of action led to other
problems.
Hamlet was so obsessed with his lack of action and the worthlessness of life that he
contemplates suicide asking, "For who could bear the whips and scorns of time" ( III. i.
69-70). He believes he would be foolish to suffer through his life when he will simply be
forgotten after his death. In an ironic twist, Hamlet refrains from suicide because the
Church considered suicide a sin but an existentialist believes sin is not defined.
Hamlet's existentialist views caused him great misery. He was loath to act because he
feared the acts were pointless anyway. He had no wish to live because his life would not
be remembered. Hamlet died believing his life counted for nothing.