Hamlet: Fate

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Hamlet: Fate

In our world today psychics try to predict what will happen in our futures. What may happen in the future is controlled by a power far higher than what can be seen by someone at the other end of a "1-900…" telephone number. The play Hamlet, by Shakespeare, presents a view of the world in which man's intellect is powerless to understand and predict the whims of Fate. Man is governed by an uncaring and perhaps deranged power.
The characters of the play are in no way able to comprehend what may lie in the future. Hamlet knows that there is something wrong with the marriage between his mother (the queen) and Claudius (King Hamlet's brother). The marriage takes place just months after the slaying of King Hamlet. "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." The characters of the play know that there are powers at work in the kingdom.
A power that could be considered supernatural is in control of the actions of the play. Hamlet is visited on several occasions by a ghost that offers thought provoking information. Hamlet knows not whether to trust the spirit or disregard what he has been told. "… the devil hath power T'assume a pleasing shape" Hamlet thought that the spirit may be trying to mislead him in the quest to find his father's killer. Characters of the play become unsure of their intentions due to the odd twists of fortune that they are dealt.
Characters in the play that were so sure of their decisions became uncertain. This uncertainty arises when the plans of characters are somehow altered. The alterations change the fate of many characters. Polonius was killed in the wake of Hamlet's plan to find his father's killer. Hamlet had no intention to kill anyone that did not deserve it. It was by chance that Polonius was in the chamber of the queen when Hamlet arrived. Polonius hid behind the curtain and was killed with a thrust of a dagger. "Time is out of joint.

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