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Shakespeare fate versus free will
Shakespeare fate versus free will
Inner conflict in hamlet
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Hamlet is a firm believer that he can control all of his action and his own destiny. Later on he realizes this is not the case as one person says, “Hamlet acknowledges that not everything is in his control, and that ultimately God determines what the outcome will be” (Hamletvsfate, Quotes) Hamlet is extremely religious more so than is portrayed in the lines of the play. Despite this he still thinks that he can control what happens to him or the people around him. As the play progresses Hamlet realizes that he cannot control everything that happens to him. This revelation occurs right after the person that Hamlet was supposed to be in love with, Ophelia, died. It was as if the death of that love was something that caused the rapid deterioration of hamlets psyche and to deal with that deterioration he had to believe that there was something bigger than him in the world. The acceptance of fate being bigger than …show more content…
One source says, “Between acts 1 and 4, Hamlet works against fortune to some extent, not fully understanding it and its power. He questions his own fate, and the fate of others” (Fortune, Fate, Providence). This claim seems to be highly flawed. Throughout the text Hamlet is trying to work against fortune but it appears that he seems to be fighting against it more so. In his life it is more that hamlet is attempting to separate the good and evil. It’s not that he believes in fate it’s that he has a moral dilemma of the act of murder. It is against his Christian beliefs for him to murder anyone no matter how horrible of a man the object of those violent ideas were. Most people do not need to evaluate whether or not they should kill a person but hamlets religious aspect makes it so the idea of killing a person seem horrible because they think that if they murder someone they will be forced to spend an eternity in a hell worse than what he was currently living
People all around the world are familiar with the “To be or not to be” speech. Although some might not realize it is a speech by Hamlet, they do realize how powerful those lines are. Those lines show the mark of a great philosopher, and this is precisely what Hamlet is. Because Hamlet is such a fantastic philosopher at the start of the play, it leads him to what some believe is his downfall. The fact that perhaps he thinks too much on the people and incidents surrounding him is really what pulls him down. He spends an excessive amount of his day thinking about every aspect of every event.
Hamlet believes that he must have a false character, this will help him in his plan to kill the king. This sense of false character that Hamlet conveys, however, is a fatal flaw that would ultimately lead him to be a tragic hero. This false sense of character is later when realized when Ophelia exclaims, “Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbraced...with a look so piteous in purport/ As if he had been loosed out of hell”(2.1.80-85). Ophelia implies here that she cannot beleive the overall state of Hamlet, she believes that Hamlet no longer loves her.
Hamlet is a character that we love to read about and analyze. His character is so realistic, and he is so romantic and idealistic that it is hard not to like him. He is the typical young scholar facing the harsh reality of the real world. In this play, Hamlet has come to a time in his life where he has to see things as they really are. Hamlet is an initiation story. Mordecai Marcus states "some initiations take their protagonists across a threshold of maturity and understanding but leave them enmeshed in a struggle for certainty"(234). And this is what happens to Hamlet.
To summarize this famous speech, he basically asks the famous question if it is better to live or die. To bring in a comparison, he compares death as sleep, in which doesn’t seem that bad when you think about it. Not only that, but he also believed that we would escape a lot of suffering, such as love. However, the catch is that we may end you have dreams, more specifically a nightmare. And having those nightmares wouldn’t be pleasurable, thus stating that it may be better just to put up with the bad things you know about in life than to die. However, at that time, Hamlet then spotted Ophelia reading book, thus ending his speech. The two begin to have a small conservation, and then Ophelia took action. She had tried to return some letters that Hamlet had written to her when they were hanging out. However, Hamlet’s reaction was a surprise to her as he claimed that he never gave her anything. After that, he began to ask her the question that if she was honest and beautiful, and so, then she should be wary. As he claimed, beauty corrupts honesty, in which a great puzzle for him to finally solve this was revealing that he indeed loved her once, but was a lie. However, things got way worse as he stated men should have no place in the world, for they are all criminals, as well as giving advice onto locking her father in. She began to pray to
With Hamlet having to emotionally deal with his fathers’ death and the stigma of incest in his family, could be his undoing. Hamlet shares how dispirited he genuinely is. Hamlet expounds his heart-ache, but it is virtually like he does not want to kill himself. Towards the cessation of the passage Hamlet seems homogeneous to he has verbalized himself out of committing suicide. Ophelia and the love he has for her seems to be the only thing that is keeping Hamlet from killing himself.
Hamlet could not acknowledge what had happened, so he made a guarantee to retaliate for his father’s demise by killing Claudius. The soliloquy exhibited by Hamlet, requesting that whether to be or not to be, is one of the speeches in the play that draws the audience. This is something that the audience can identify with it, and they can expect what is to come and see the advancement of the characters. There is additionally the case of Ophelia, who ends up insane on account of the demise of her father Polonius. Ophelia winds up troubled, crazy, and confused while the other characters start to see her madness when her father is killed. She is one of the characters that move toward becoming seen as a prattling fool all through the play in light of the crazy disturbances she has. This exposition will demonstrate that the Elizabethan audience is targeted by Hamlet through the study of the characters Ophelia and Hamlet. In particular, it will be analyzed; Ophelia and Hamlet's craziness, and the play's connection to regular day to day
After encountering his father’s ghost, Hamlet finds out Claudius has murdered his father thus, sets a goal to kill Claudius. Although he has one goal, Hamlet makes harmful decisions that strongly affects other around him. The author describes the situation shortly after Polonius dies to Hamlet and says, “Hamlet says, ‘Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell. I took thee for thy better. Take thy fortune. Thou find’st to be too busy is some danger’” (3.4.32-34). This quote displays Hamlet’s character as foolish and hasty. To explain, Hamlet does not use logical reasoning to figure out who is behind the curtain but rather makes the decision quickly to stab the unknown figure. His strong passion to kill Claudius causes this event to occur. Not only does Hamlet commit harsh actions but also speaks harsh words. The author describes Ophelia and Hamlet conversing and says, “Hamlet says, “I have heard of your paintings too, well enough. God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another. You jig and amble, and you lisp; and nickname God's creatures and make your wantonness your ignorance’” (3.1.144-148). This quote displays how Hamlet speaks without using logical reasoning such as how Ophelia might love him and how she believes he loves her. He is strictly focused on killing Claudius and has no care for what he does to others. To add on, this also
In a world full of hopelessness and horror, Ophelia represents a diming beacon of hope in Hamlet’s life. It is clear from the beginning that Ophelia's love for Hamlet is real and reciprocated in strength. Even after Laertes and Polonius try and convince her that even if Hamlet’s feelings for her were real, things between them could never work out, Ophelia insists that he “hath given countenance to his speech, [...] with almost all the holy vows of heaven” (11). She is convinced that Hamlet’s love for her is so real his feelings couldn’t be faked. Reluctantly Ophelia agrees to call things off with Hamlet at her father’s request even if it means pretending she doesn’t love him. From the beginning Hamlet conveys his dismal attitude towards the world through his devaluation of life; but Ophelia’s presence represents a light in Hamlet’s never ending darkness.
The way we see ourselves is often reflected in the way we act. Hamlet views himself as different to those young nobles around him such as Fortinbras and Laertes. This reality leads us to believe that over time he has become even more motivated to revenge his father's death, and find out who his true friends are. How can you be honest in a world full of deceit and hate? His seven soliloquies tell us that while the days go by he grows more cunning as he falls deeper into his madness. This fact might have lead Hamlet to believe that suicide is what he really wants for his life's course.
Is the future at all certain? Do we as mortals have the free will to change the future? These are all questions that as sentient human beings, we are forced to ask ourselves. No human could know the answer to these metaphysical questions regarding of the nature of being itself. Instead of searching for a scientific answer we much look towards an ontological answer. The Christian answer to these questions would revolve around the concept of God’s intervention via divine providence and special providence. We have free will over our emotions and reactions fate, whether it be God or another divine being or some other man behind the curtain. Hamlet believes this when he says, “There's a divinity that shapes our ends/ Rough hew them how he will.” Though this would view make reconciling the vast amount of pain one caused easily it set the premise for a dangerous and barbaric world. This worldview presents serious pragmatic, ethical and scientific objections.
Both Ophelia and Hamlet face madness due to grief after the death of their fathers. Downfall as a result of madness is handled differently by the two lovers. Ophelia handles her instability completely because of her suicide, whereas Hamlet’s instability comes and goes. When Hamlet says, “To be, or not to be: that is the question,” he wonders whether he should commit suicide or not—there is a lack of action here. Additionally, Ophelia copes with her self-destruction privately, while Hamlet acts out and leads everyone to suspect he is crazy. Ophelia also has no coping mechanism to turn to while Hamlet uses revenge to deter his suicidal thoughts. These differentiations allow for Ophelia’s sanity to be impaired and for Hamlet’s to remain somewhat
Making decisions is a hard task as any hesitation as well as a lack of commitment can result in unsuccess and disappointing results. In Shakespearean plays, the hero consistently played a major part of the tragedy in which he/she has fallen to their demise. In Hamlet, the protagonist Hamlet is on a mission to seek revenge for his father, King Hamlet and kill his brother King Claudius. Hamlet has displayed his desire for vengeance numerous times throughout the play but it is his uncertainty in his decisions that delays his plan of revenge, which in turn, also contributes to his own death. Revenge also plays a key role in the death of Hamlet as he struggles to simultaneously seek vengeance while satisfying his morals. Hamlet’s indecisiveness
Hamlet although he believes that suffering must be endured or battled, he also understands that suffering is optional and that suffering is caused from pain and all pain can be relieved. At times Hamlet no longer sees the point of bearing the huge burden of suffering as he does, but rather to end the burden through suicide. These thoughts are however based or can be linked back to Hamlet’s emotion and how his negative emotions overcome his logical thinking. We see however Hamlet’s ability to think logically and understand the reasoning behind suffering and the preciousness of his life. At this point in the play Hamlet no longer doubts his meaning in life, this is quite pivotal because this then allows him the confidence and power to seek revenge on Claudius.
The perfection of Hamlet’s character has been called in question - perhaps by those who do not understand it. The character of Hamlet stands by itself. It is not a character marked by strength of will or even of passion, but by refinement of thought and sentiment. Hamlet is as little of the hero as a man can be. He is a young and princely novice, full of high enthusiasm and quick sensibility - the sport of circumstances, questioning with fortune and refining on his own feelings, and forced from his natural disposition by the strangeness of his situation.
Keys to Interpretation of Hamlet & nbsp; William Shakespeare's Hamlet is, at heart, a play about suicide. Though it is surrounded by a fairly standard revenge plot, the play's core is an intense psychodrama about a prince gone mad from the pressures of his station and his unrequited love for Ophelia. He longs for the ultimate release of killing himself - but why? In this respect, Hamlet is equivocal - he gives several different motives depending on the situation. But we learn to trust his soliloquies - his thoughts - more than his actions.