hamlet: from the fall of man to a mystical journey

hamlet: from the fall of man to a mystical journey

renaissance outlook relies on the humanism while medieval outlook is intellectual. in the light of intellectualism and based on the ancient philosophical meaning of the term ‘intellect’ or ‘intelligence’, a work is much related to the gnostic aspects while humanism depicted in a renaissance work indicates that the emphasis is on human and other earthy objects not on godly features. to comprehend this, definitions on the concept of intellect are discussed, intelligence is equated with the greek philosophical term ‘nous’, and farabian theory of intellection is argued as well. the purpose of this study is to show that the play hamlet written by shakespeare in the renaissance era, in contrast, is more intellectual than humanistic in its outlook. to support the argument, the researcher utilizes valuable notions of martin lings in his great book shakespeare in the light of sacred art. in addition, to achieve the research objectives, the analysis is divided into two major parts: first, hamlet is considered through the story of the fall and second it is analyzed in the light of mysticism. that is to say, hamlet representative for a fallen man enters in a mystical journey to pacify his soul and to regain his lost edenic state.