The most modern idea that Shakespeare conveyed in his play "Hamlet" is existentialism. Existentialism as defined by Kohn "is a philosophy of balance: To exist is literally marvelous and not to be taken for granted, but that existence is shot through with finitude; our freedom to define ourselves is exhilarating but also a terrible burden; that God is dead -- an historical statement, not a theological one – allows us to "belong to a higher history than any history hitherto," but suggests utter abandonment, a loneliness of dreadful proportions" (1). ... He knows that he could sta...

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• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Their existentialism mirrors the same lost faith and viewpoint on death that Hemingway lived by himself. The novel's heavy abuse of escapism paves the pathway for this condition of existentialism. This hopelessness also defined as "nada", the "recognition of nothingness and the absence of meaning to life.... This search for meaning and these feelings of emptiness and aimlessness reflect some of the principle ideas behind existentialism. ...

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• Approx Pages: 4
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He argued that reason, democracy, progress, and respectability were all defining aspects of conventional morality, and that what we should really be concentrating on is the inner passion and animal instincts that provoke us as beings to think and act, and to be truly creative. ... Following in the revolutionary footsteps that Nietzsche laid out in world of philosophical thinking, were two equally, if not more influential ideas called logical empiricism (or logical positivism), and existentialism. ... In response to all of this uncertainty and anxiety another form of philosophical thinking emer...

• Word Count: 1360
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate