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Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the view that humans must define their own meaning in life without a God or explanation for existence. If there is no God or supernatural being that can explain the existence for human existence, the only way to oppose the feeling of nothingness is to embrace ones actions, freedoms and decisions. While Jean Paul Sartre is widely regarded to be the main catalyst and drive to the French existential movement of the 1940s and 50s, existentialism can be traced back to Kierkegaard nearly 100 years before. While Sartre is the only widely regarded existentialist who self defined himself as such, Kierkegaard, Albert Camus and Simon de Beauvoir are also  philosophers who helped define the movement.

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This text is very relevant to the time because the biggest religion at the time was Christianity and in this time it started to split into two main denominations, catholicism and Protestantism. But, there were a lot of things changing including scientific revolutions which led to the questioning of religion and God. With the sciences starting to grow bigger and bigger people started to look to it for the answer to the meaning of life. Instead of God who they had been believing had the answer for generations. This is foreshadowing for the whole century where crazy discoveries such as new mathematics, gravity, and our solar system. Which led to the belief that the sciences were more trustworthy than a God.

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From Hamlet's 'To be, or not to be' soliloquy:
"...puzzles the will..." (3.1.25) Hamlet questions whether he should live or die. The use of the word will exemplifies the ideas behind existentialism. Taking one's life is a choice.  Individuals have free will to make decisions for themselves since they are the ones in control of their lives.

From Hamlet's soliloquy after seeing Norway's army:
"How I stand, then, that have a father killed, a mother stained, excitements of my reason and my blood, and let all sleep, while to my shame I see the imminent death of twenty thousand men..." (4.4.57-61) Hamlet is angry at himself for still not taking action against his uncle for his father's murder. As he watched the Norwegian army march off to take action against Poland, he reflects on his inaction. Hamlet's inaction connects to existentialism since the one of the themes of existentialism is responsibility. The Ghost of King Hamlet told  Hamlet to get revenge against Claudius and he still has yet to do so. He has not fulfilled his responsibility and seeing the army march right in front of him on the way to fulfill their responsibility causes Hamlet to question his willpower, meaning, and strength.

From Hamlet's conversation with Yorick's skull:
"...let her paint an inch thick, to this favor she must come." (5.1.193-194) Hamlet bringing light to the reality of death. Whether rich or poor or royalty or the common person, we all die at some point. The existential perception of death is that death is outside man's possibilities. Therefore, since we know our inevitable ending, death is not a limit of a man's freedom.

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The Skull of Yorick

The skull is a symbol of existentialism because it is a representation of death and it's inevitability. Existentialism focuses on the ideas of humans having free-will and the  ability to make choices without outside factors. Death ties into this idea because it is independent of the influence of   society. Everyone dies, and one's social status cannot save them from death.

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In Act 3, Scene 1 of Hamlet, Prince Hamlet has a soliloquy in which questions whether there is any point to living a life where one is faced with the pressures the human world with all of its misfortunes and troubles. This is the founding principal of existentialism, the idea that we are born into a world devoid of purpose or meaning. The only difference between Hamlet's philosophy and existentialism is action. Hamlet has discovered purposelessness that existentialism describes but he has not realized that his decisions and actions are the catalysts for purpose, that being the avenging of his late father.

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Existentialism: a philosophical movement that stresses the individual's unique position as a self-determining agent responsible for making meaningful, authentic choices in a universe seen as purposeless or irrational: existentialism is associated especially with Heidegger, Jaspers, Marcel, and Sartre, and is opposed to philosophical rationalism and empiricism.

Connotations
Used to describe the meaningless of life but is that really a bad thing because it leads us to find what the meaning really is

How Existentialism is used throughout Hamlet
Existentialism is portrayed by many characters who wonder what life is really about, what is the importance of existence. We see hamlet in his own "To be or not to be" Soliloquy where he questions his own life whether he is better off dead or alive.

What does Existentialism really mean
-Search for meaning
-That everyone has free will and has a search for their own desire
-Search for meaning in a meaningless world
-Is there even any meaning?

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In Scene three one of the themes is that Suffering is part of the human condition. This connects to existentialism because he suffers after the death of his father and leads him to have his "to be, or not to be" soliloquy. In this soliloquy, he uses rhetorical questioning to ask himself why he is actually alive, which is the whole idea of existentialism.

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Jean-Paul Sartre : The birth father of existentialism 

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Jean-Paul Sartre : The birth father of existentialism 

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Basic themes of existentialism : radical freedom, choice, and responsibility; meaning people have ABSOLUTE power and control over their lives and choices

“Existence precedes essence” : he believed only by existing and acting a certain way do we give meaning to our lives - there is no fixed design for how a human should be and no God to give us a purpose

"Existentialism is a humanism because it expresses the power of human beings to make freely-willed choices, independent of the influence of religion or society" - Sartre