Bohemian Rhapsody: an Existentialistic Piece of Literature
The song bohemian rhapsody by Queen relates to existentialism in which the song talks about an existentialist’s way of life. Existentialism is the belief that people are searching to find out who and what they are throughout life as they make choices based on their experiences, beliefs, and outlooks. Existentialism is centered upon the analysis of existence and the way humans find themselves existing in the world.
The song bohemian rhapsody has several different qualities that make it an existentialistic piece of literature. At first glance Bohemian rhapsody is about a man ashamed about murdering another human being. After looking at it closer there are examples of an existentialistic lifestyle. Bohemian rhapsody starts with narrator’s shock of the realization that he just committed a major crime, “caught in a landslide, no escape from reality”, and how he cannot believe he just murdered a man.
Existentialists believe that decisions are not without stress and consequences. The line “I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy” is a great example of how he doesn’t want sympathy for the decision he made to kill a man because he knows that that decision will bring him stress and consequences. The narrator states how he is “easy come, easy go’, inferring that he usually as it comes and learns along the way, yet another belief of existentialist.
Existentialist usually do not believe in a god or an afterlife so they believe that anything acquired in this life will not matter after they are dead. You can also consider the line “Any way the wind blows doesn’t really matter to me” as another existentialistic idea incorporated in the song because the narrator infers that he doesn’t really care what will happen to him because none of it will matter when he is dead. The line “easy come, easy go, will you let me go”, has a little more meaning to it the earlier line, “easy come, easy go”.
The added line “will you let me go” shows that he takes responsibility for what he has done but wants others to forget him because it will not matter when they are all dead. The stanza “Nothing really matters, anyone can see, Nothing really matters, Nothing really matters to me Any way the wind blows ENDED. ” Also shows how the existentialists believe that nothing really matters in life because once you are gone nothing you did in this life will matter. All of these lyrics show how existentialism is incorporated into the song bohemian rhapsody.
