The following contains spoilers for episode 4 of NieR Automata Ver1.1a, "a mountain too [H]high" now streaming on Crunchyroll.
NieR Automata Ver1.1a is finally back with episode 4. 2B and 9S have returned from their excursion to enemy territory and informed Lily and Jackass of their discoveries. If going head-to-head with android look-alike machines wasn't weird enough, the audience would at the same time discover the machine lifeforms, performing a play; more specifically, Hamlet.
To think the simple act of picking up a book from one of the machines, could lead to a more civilized community. If they aren't fighting, however, then what is there to do for the androids? 2B and 9S are once again instructed to enter machine territory to find some missing androids. And the results are needless to say, horrific.
The Meaning of Life
Last episode, we began to see changes in machine behavior. Moreover, 2B and 9S were unfortunate enough to bear witness to hundreds of mutilated android corpses, with no idea on how they were bested so easily. The answer is given in episode 4: they're being dismembered alive and used as weapons to create "beauty". A large machine, obsessed with beauty, attempts to kill 2B and 9S. But the two were only attacked when they entered its domain.
If we take an even closer look, aside from the events of episode 2, there have been no indications of hostility from any of the machine lifeforms, unless provoked. And even then, sometimes they'll beg for their lives instead. Here, we see all that first-hand. 9S and 2B's whole purpose of entering enemy territory were to find out what happened to the missing YoRHa units. But what does it mean to have "purpose"?
At the beginning of the episode, Lily and Jackass speculate that given the unique behavior of the machine life forms, there lies a possibility for a truce in the near future. 9S immediately shoots this down, as if it were that simple, there would be no purpose in their existence. Unlike the machines, the YoRHa androids are set in their ways and unwilling to compromise. However, this does no favors for either of them. The main "villain" of this episode resembles an opera singer, adorned with jewelry.
Only that the "jewelry" are android corpses. Unlike other enemies the two have fought, this one was able to hack directly into 9S and 2B, catching them off guard. 9S would later discover that in the machine's data, is not inherent hostility towards the androids, but an inner desire to be "beautiful". For those who have played the game, this enemy is known as "Simone" ("Beauvoir", in the original Japanese).
What Gives An Existence Purpose?
We already know that the YoRHa androids live to fight the machines, but the Resistance and machines alike seemed to have found a common ground. Their new purpose? Survival. But unlike the previous episodes, where the machine life forms simply discovered companionship and nurturing, they have begun to adopt the negatives of the human experience, as well. During 9S's discovery while hacking Simone, we find out her obsession with beauty.
It's implied that there's a male robot whose attention she's trying to get, and in the process, harms those around her. It's similar to how modern society encourages women to be better than the other through beauty. Constantly being told that they're never enough, women are led to harm others in order to achieve conventional perfection. You may also notice that none of the androids adorning Simone's figure are male, either. But upon 9S becoming trapped in the mind of the enemy, we get an idea of Simone's inner turmoil.
"Am I beautiful?", "I want to become beautiful", "I need more", are repeated throughout the scene. It's only once she is defeated does she say, "I became beautiful". So what was her purpose exactly? Was it given to herself, or was it society's doing? But she attacked 9S and 2B out of inner turmoil, and not because she was ordered to, unlike the YoRHa androids. So the question remains: which one of them is truly "free"?
Denial
Despite their shock, 9S still kills non-hostile machines, even when they beg for their lives. He reasons that they are merely just "imitating" human behavior, but aren't we all imitations of each other? Android's are imitations of humans. We are beginning to see a new side of 9S, perhaps he too is struggling to find "purpose" in his existence. The first stage of grief is denial, after all.