Existentialism In Hamlet's 'Alexander The Great'

Register to read the introduction… The quote starts out with saying “No, faith, not a jot, but to follow him thither/with modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it; as/thus”. This means that not matter what faith you have or what you do, you would die in the very end, making your life meaningless. Then Hamlet use a historical reference to Alexander the Great to prove his previous statement. He uses Alexander the Great because he was one of the most powerful and influential person in history. In the next line, he says “Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alex-/ander returneth to dust; the dust is earth; of earth /we make loam”. In this phrase, Hamlet illustrates one the greatest person in history as insignificant after they have died. Alexander the Great died and then turned to ashes, his ashes went into the dirt to be made into loam. This shows that his ashes were recycled as if he was not important and his entire existence was meaningless. With using an historical example of someone as great as Alexander, who achieved so much during his lifetime, Hamlet shows how meaningless existence can be for humans. This quote can be tied to existentialism because Hamlet is showing the reader that after someone die their whole existence is rendered …show more content…
Although it seems like Hamlet loved Ophelia in the beginning of the play, as the play progressed certain scenes, such as the “get thee to a nunnery” scene, makes the reader doubt whether or not he truly loves Ophelia or if it was all just lust. The lines above put all the doubts to rest because it verifies how immensely Hamlet loved Ophelia. During this scene in the play, Ophelia has died and Hamlet competing with Laertes over who loves her more, which can be seen when Hamlet says “ show me what thou't do”. Then, Hamlet goes to ask Laertes whether he would weep, fight, fast, tear himself apart, drink vinegar, and eat a crocodile for Ophelia. Following those questions, Hamlet says that he would do all that for her which shows how much he loved her and how much he was devoted to her. In the next lines, Hamlet says “Dost thou come here to whine,/To outface me with leaping in her grave?”. This shows that Hamlet is outraged that Laertes thinks he could show that he loves her sister more by just leaping into her grave and crying. Overall, this quote shows how much Hamlet has loved Ophelia despite his previous attitude toward her. This quote can also be related to theme of existentialism because it seems to be that Hamlet’s devotion to Ophelia gave him a purpose in life to go after her. This can be seen in the last line where Hamlet wants to be buried with Ophelia because of of his purpose in life in