Being without value or meaning allows the violation of behavioral norms. Existentialism is defended in the responsibility and free will of man. The world is totally “worthless, meaningless, empty and hopeless,…to use a favorite, absurd existentialism” (Ross 1). A man must become unconventional by giving authentic meaning to life. Shakespeare's character Hamlet in the play Hamlet explores these existential principles as he searches for truth and understanding after the murder of his father. He attempts 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 becomes the existential hero in Shakespeare's Hamlet through his confrontation with moral responsibilities and life's purpose. The existential ideal gives structure and meaning to Hamlet's action. Hamlet is a conflicted character. He is enraged by the murder of his father, the King of Denmark, and by the premature marriage of his mother, Queen Gertrude, to his uncle, King Claudius, who is also his father's murderer. It is in a tangle of lies, death and duplicity that Hamlet lives. “Denmark is [certainly] a prison” for him (II.2.262). Hamlet retreats into the room, no longer having an enthusiastic and playful attitude. His relationship with his mother is destroyed, he denounces Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Ophelia, and he withdraws from society feigning madness. He is the character par excellence of Jean Paul Sartre's existential principle according to which “hell is other people”. Ultimately, Hamlet's nature changes completely. He declared to Guildenstern that "recently, but for what reason I do not know, I lost all my cheerfulness, I renounced all custom of exercises, a...... middle of paper... .. in England 23 (2010): 34+. Literary Resource Center. Internet. November 24, 2013. Meron, Theodor. “Crimes and Responsibility in Shakespeare.” The American Journal of International Law. 92.1 (January 1998): 1-40. JSTOR. Internet. November 24, 2013. .Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2012. Print.Snider, DJ “HAMLET”. The Journal of Speculative Philosophy. 7.1 (January 1873): 71-87. JSTOR. Internet. November 21, 2013. Williamson, Claude CH “Hamlet”. International Journal of Ethics. 33.1 (October 1922): 85-100. JSTOR. Internet. November 21, 2013. Ross, Kelly L. “Existentialism.” The Proceedings of the Frisian School, Fourth Series. Kelly L. Ross, Ph.D., 2013. Web. November 25. 2013.