Hamlet And A Clockwork Orange

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Recommended: Moral decision making

“What does God want? Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him?” (Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, part two, chapter 3)

Are our decisions subject to the inclinations of our past actions, as behaviorist would proclaim? Or do we have governance over our actions, or in other words, free will, as Humanists would argue? Furthermore, what is “right?” Is it to succumb to the societal and religious expectations of “good?” Or is it to act on one’s own intent? These are the questions that Alex from Stanley Kubrick’s Film adaptation of Burgess’ “A Clockwork Orange” and Hamlet from Shakespeare’s celebrated tragedy both struggle in answering as they …show more content…

Meanwhile, Alex struggles between his tendencies to commit “a bit of the old ultra-violence” and to surrender to the expectation of a good citizen that is forced upon him. Both stories challenge the idea of whether accepting to commit good whilst going against one’s own interests would truly produce “good.” For our culture has placed such bias ideals of what is truly good and bad that we have forgotten that humans are complex beings, different from gears and parts in a clockwork orange; the complexity of our actions and thoughts are what differ us from beasts and machines. The oft-dismissed truth that our behaviors will inevitably deviate from the paragons of good and evil is what truly defines us, and Hamlet and Alex alike, as humans. Taking the Humanist stance on the question of free will, what would be good if there is nothing relative such as evil to compare it to? Would a homogenous community where the Ten Commandments are followed to the tee be truly good when there is no choice to be evil? In such a controlled environment, will Hamlet truly ask the question of “to be or not to be” or will he be quixotic and accept the façade of choice as truth? And even if he does choose to deceive himself, is there truly a fault in wanting to free oneself from one’s

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