Hamlet

«There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so».

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare at an uncertain date between 1599 and 1602. Set in Denmark, the play dramatizes the revenge Prince Hamlet is called to wreak upon his uncle, Claudius, by the ghost of Hamlet's father, King Hamlet. Claudius had murdered his own brother and seized the throne, also marrying his deceased brother's widow.

Hamlet is often perceived as a philosophical character, expounding ideas that are now described as a relativist, existentialist, and skeptical. For example, the clearest alleged instance of existentialism is in the «to be, or not to be» speech, where Hamlet is thought by some to use "being" to allude to life and action, and "not being" to death and inaction.