An Impossible Death: Hamlet, Phaedra and Macbeth in Emmanuel Levinas' Philosophy

Abstract

This article wants to show the role of some of the key figures of the modern theatre, such as Hamlet, Phedra and Macbeth, in Emmanuel Levinas’ philosophy. Firstly, I briefly show the issue of the death in the entire Levinas’reflection, from the juvenile works to the latest ones, in order to undertsand in which context these figures are placed in. Secondly, by analyzing Hamlet, Macbeth and Phedra’s characters, I show what Levinas means when he writes about the impossibility of dying and why death is not a possiblity for the subject. Then, starting from the famous question "to be or not to be", I aim to explore the idea of suicide referring to other authors – Camus, Heidegger, Plato. Eventually, I will try to demonstrate why the dead is unrelated to living beings from every point of view and why death belongs to another ontological order.