Hamlet as the Philosopher

Hamlet is without doubt one of the most complex characters in English literature. It is also safe to assume that within the play, he is the smartest character on stage (the only exception being one of the gravediggers). As a result, he is often considered a philosopher. Hamlet’s relationship with death puts him ahead of other characters philosophically. Most of the characters simply react to death or are emotionally shaken by it. Claudius is afraid of Hamlet’s potential revenge and feels guilt at the death of his brother, which we know from his almost-confession. Ophelia was scarred into madness by the death of her father, and her brother is now crazed for murder. Hamlet, however, appears to look at death as simply another part of being human and questions it. After murdering Polonius, he accepts that Polonius is no more, and refers to him as what he now is—a body. Hamlet has accepted that after death, we are nothing but dust. He understands that after death, all are equal, no matter what they were in life. In the graveyard of Act 5, Hamlet picks up Yorick’s skull and stares into it. In a way, he is staring directly into the eyes of death. In most movie adaptations of the play, it looks as if he was trying to understand death more deeply.  A philosopher is defined as “a person who offers views or theories on profound questions in ethics, metaphysics, logic, and other related fields.” As exhibited in several of his more famous soliloquies (such as the “To be or not to be”), Hamlet shows signs of common existentialist beliefs. His philosophy regarding death is that death is relief and peace, and it is only feared because of the unknown it brings. However, it is not always unfortunate. Hamlet purposely chooses not to kill Claudius during prayer so that he will not go to heaven. This indicates that Hamlet does (at least partially) believe in an afterlife. However, he still questions his existence and whether he is meant to live. Existentialism is a profound theory about life, thereby making Hamlet a philosopher. On the other hand, an argument can concretely be made that Hamlet is in fact far from a philosopher. This far in the play, we cannot truly know whether his madness was purposeful or not. If it was not on purpose, but rather a result of seeing the ghost, Hamlet may just be a mad, depressive, obsessive, and rash prince. While at first, his actions seem calculated and his wit unmatched, this quickly degrades. The murder of Polonius in Gertrude’s chambers was rash and impulsive—very far from Hamlet’s usual calculated actions. Even if his madness was only pretense, he can still be seen as only a selfish depressive. After all, his pretend-madness and selfish actions directly lead to the death of Ophelia.