hamlet

When attempting to study God through man, Renaissance philosophers encountered an insurmountable obstacle-how can man be created in God’s image, if man is capable of both good and evil? Humanism represented a movement away from the ideal of man created in gods image, instead focusing on man as an individual. In doing this, philosophers found that in the absence of a religious good and evil, humans must have some inherent goodness, which would later be known as human nature. The idea of an inner moral code, that governs what is right and wrong in the absence of cultural and religious codes is represented in Hamlet through it’s main character, Hamlet himself.Hamlet’s struggle to reconcile his inner moral code with the duty placed upon him by society reflects popular philosophical ideas of the time period, especially those of the humanist movement.

Hamlet’s filial duty, brought out through his relationship with his dead father and his mother, conflicts with his humanist ideals. Even before Hamlet meets his father's ghost, his love for the dead king is very clear, especially in his comparisons between his father, who he likens to “Hyperion”, and Claudius, whom he calls a “Satyr”. By building a picture of Hamlet’s love for his father, Shakespeare adds weight to Hamlet’s need for revenge, as Hamlet is bound both by his own love, and the sense of duty and honour that was imposed upon him by society. Also significant in this passage is Hamlet’s allusion to Hyperion, who is the father of Helios in greek mythology. The fact that he thinks of his father as the father of the greek sun god suggests that at this point, Hamlet still believes in his own importance. This point of view dramatically changes throughout the play, as Hamlet begins to...

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...s suggests that Hamlet was still afraid of death, and was only able to take action once he no longer had to worry about preserving his own life. Through his questioning of the value of human life, separate from religion, Hamlet can be seen to demonstrate a humanist outlook.

In Hamlet, Shakespeare can be seen to consider the humanist philosophy through the conflicts it creates within Hamlet himself. Where Hamlet’s moral, Humanist self attempts to view humans as individuals, each with their own good and evil tendencies, he is urged by society’s ideals of duty and the Church’s ideal of divine right to take action against perceived evil, righting wrongs and restoring honour to his family. It is this divide that defines Hamlet as a character, and it is this divide that reflects the issues that Renaissance humanists were tackling when Shakespeare brought Hamlet to life.