Fate And Free Will In Hamlet Analysis

Using his God-given free will, Hamlet made decisions throughout the play that directly caused many deaths: Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Ophelia, Laertes, Claudius, and himself. These losses are not the result of self-defence or of fate. In any case, Hamlet’s decisionsDuring the Renaissance, the focus of learning and the arts was shifting from the concepts of church and religion. People became intrigued towards earthly matters, including their environment and their own lives. Many Protestants believed in predestination, the belief that each event in the past, present or future has been predetermined. This ideology holds that whether our souls enter heaven or hell was predetermined before our birth and that it was independent of our human moral choices, as they were powerless to impact their spiritual destination. On the other hand, Renaissance Humanism was a viewpoint giving prime importance to human influences, rather than the divine or the supernatural influences. The Humanist belief emphasized the potential importance of human beings and was a philosophy that asserted human ability to live ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspired to the greater good of humanity. Also, the Classical tragedians treasured the conflict between fate and free will. At the core of many tragedies lay the struggle between the human disposition to simply accept fate and the in-born tendency to govern destiny. The quote: ‘If it be now, ‘tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all (V.ii.206).” from Hamlet raises the question: Is the future undecided and changing or is it predetermined by fate? William Shakespeare’s Hamlet may seem similar to a classical tragedy in which th...

... middle of paper ...

... the murderer accountable for death of his father. Had Hamlet killed Claudius at an earlier time, providing he was not caught, he may have spared the lives of many others in the effect of his indecisive conscience, including his own. Hamlet’s internal contemplation and emotions drive the more physical stages of conflict and it is purely the internal conflicts that ultimately inflame the reckless display of violence. Using his God-given free will, Hamlet made decisions throughout the play that directly caused many deaths: Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, Ophelia, Laertes, Claudius, and himself. These losses are not the result of self-defence or of fate. In any case, Hamlet’s decisions help create his own revenge tragedy, as his choices directly and ultimately destroy him. help create his own revenge tragedy, as his choices directly and ultimately destroy him.