Being without value or meaning allows for the violation of normal behavioral standards. Existentialism defends itself in the responsibility and free will of man. The world is absolutely “worthless, meaningless, empty, and hopeless, … to use a favorite, absurd existentialism” (Ross 1). Man must become unconventional by providing authentic meaning to life. Shakespeare's character Hamlet in the play Hamlet explores these existential principles as he searches for truth and understanding after his father's murder. Attempt to establish order in a chaotic world full of betrayal, espionage, and death. This leads to Hamlet's inevitable downfall and the death of those close to him. Hamlet emerges as an existential hero in Shakespeare's Hamlet through his confrontation with moral responsibilities and the purpose of life. The existential ideal gives structure and meaning to Hamlet's action. Hamlet is a conflicted character. He is exasperated by the murder of his father, the King of Denmark, and the early marriage of his mother, Queen Gertrude, to his uncle, King Claudius, who is also his father's murderer. It is a tangled web of lies, death and duplicity that Hamlet lives in. “Denmark [certainly] is a prison” for him (II.2.262). Hamlet retreats into the play, no longer having an enthusiastic and playful demeanor. His relationship with his mother is destroyed, he denounces Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Ophelia, and he alienates himself from society while pretending to be crazy. He is the character par excellence of Jean Paul Sartre's existential principle according to which "Hell is other people". In the end, Hamlet's nature changes completely. He states to Guildenstern that "recently, but why I know not, I have lost all my cheerfulness, abandoned all habits of exercise, and... half of the paper... in England 23 (2010): 34+. Literary Resource Center .Net. 24 November 2013.Meron, "Crimes and Liability in Shakespeare." .Shakespeare, William Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperback, 2012. Print.Snider, D.J. "HAMLET." : 71-87. JSTOR. 21 November 2013. .Williamson, Claude CH “Hamlet”. Ross, Kelly L. “Existentialism.” Proceedings of the Frisian School, Fourth Series. Kelly L. Ross, Ph.D., 2013. Web. 25 November. 2013.