Hamlet Fate Vs Free Will
Hamlet was destined to be damned the moment he was asked to avenge his father, it was his predestined fate. However, Hamlet hesitates when confronted about avenging his father’s death knowing the consequences of killing a King. Throughout the play, Hamlet fluctuates between avenging his father or walking away. Ultimately, Hamlet’s decisions led to his death and the death of others in the play. At the end of Hamlet, was Hamlet’s death predestined or caused by his own free will? At what point is Hamlet responsible for the things that happen to him and when fate step in?
I.iii.20-21
“His greatness weighed, his will is not his own
For he himself is subject to his birth.”
When Ophelia confronts her father, Polonius, about Hamlet’s love towards
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free will. Although not directly stated in the quote, the fate of Ophelia’s death is the Christian burial because she had no control over it and it was bound to happen anyway. As for her willfulness to seek her own salvation, seeing as suicide is a sin, Ophelia’s ghost is the deciding factor on where she will end up going. In this way, as with Hamlet, fate is presented at the beginning and is used to lead up to the ending where free will overpowers the beliefs of …show more content…
If she had gone to the water to drown, it would have been suicide. However, if the water had come to drown her, it would have been an accidental, Christian death. What is quoted is exactly what it means. If a man goes into the waters and drowns himself, it is his own free will to do such a thing. If the water comes to him and he cannot stop it, it is fate that has caused him to drown. The image of Ophelia suicidally “going to the water” compliments Hamlet’s soliloquy of “to be or not to be.” Suicide and dying is a large part of what makes Hamlet a tragedy and is seen multiple times in the play foreshadowing his actual death at the
Why Is Revenge Important In Hamlet
732 Words | 3 PagesLaertes believes Hamlet is to blame not only for his father’s death, but also for Ophelia’s death because the death of her father is ultimately what drove her to killing herself. Once Laertes returns, he asks King Claudius who is responsible for the death of his father and is informed that Hamlet is the one to blame. Ophelia enters and reveals to everyone that she has gone crazy and ends up killing herself. Hamlet returns to Denmark and is surprised to find out that Ophelia has died. Laertes and Hamlet start fighting at her burial service and Hamlet says he wants to be
Hamlet Trapped Character Analysis
402 Words | 2 PagesHamlet faces many problems because of his own character and actions or decision that he takes. Hamlet was sent to England with his friends where Polonius had a plan to kill him. This is a physical trap in which his own actions drags him into the death. Claudius says, “By letters congruent to the effect, The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England, for like the hectic in my blood he rages, and thou must cure me” (Hamlet 4.4.73-76).
Suicide In Ophelia
982 Words | 4 PagesOphelia's father, brother, and her lover have controlled every aspect of her short life and even treated Ophelia with no respect. Although it may have seemed that Ophelia committed suicide over the loss of her loved ones, she actually committed suicide over the loss of her newly gained freedom. Exploring deeply into the play, one would uncover that in every instant that Ophelia had lost a loved one she does not show sadness. Only after her brother returns, does Ophelia truly lose her mind.
Ophelia And Hamlet Analysis
1191 Words | 5 PagesEven though, compared to Hamlet, Ophelia has someone who supports her after her father's death , Hamlet and Ophelia loss of a parental figure and both of them are obedient to the orders of their fathers because they have a mutual feeling for each other. When we lose a loved one we are used to having someone to comfort us about the loss. In these case
Examples Of Insanity In Hamlet
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Compare And Contrast Hamlet Play And Movie
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Psychological Events In Hamlet
1140 Words | 5 PagesIn the Tragedy of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, some of the most significant events are mental or psychological events that make the audience feel and have an emotional connection with the characters. These significant events can be awakenings, discoveries, and changes in consciousness that set off a mental or psychological effect to the readers. The author, Shakespeare, gives these internal events to characters such as Ophelia, Gertrude, and Hamlet throughout the play to give the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax usually associated with external action. Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius and the sister of Laertes who both tell her to stop seeing Hamlet. To Polonius, Ophelia is an eternal virgin who is going to be a dutiful
Examples Of Hamlet's Indecisiveness
628 Words | 3 PagesHamlet no longer wanted to live in this life despair and pain. Another illustration of his indecisiveness is during the play when he had a clear chance to avenge his father by killing Claudius but choose not to do so, because he thought that Claudius was repenting for his
Hamlet Compare And Contrast Hamlet And Ophelia
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Hamlet: The Cause Of Ophelia's Suicide
745 Words | 3 PagesOphelia’s death results from Hamlet's madness, his telling Ophelia that she needs to go to a nunnery, and Polonius's death. Hamlet telling Ophelia to go to a nunnery made Ophelia feel insecure. Especially when Hamlet told Ophelia that he would marry her just so she would sleep with him. Then, Hamlet comes back to Ophelia telling her that she needs to go to a nunnery. Which is basically calling Ophelia a whore, because a nunnery is like a whorehouse. Ophelia at this point felt very insecure about herself and she questioned her relationship with Hamlet.
Internal Events In Hamlet
1410 Words | 6 PagesIn the Tragedy of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, some of the most significant events are mental or psychological events that make the audience feel and have an emotional connection with the characters. Moreover, these significant events are categorized as new awakenings, discoveries, and changes in consciousness that set off a mental or psychological effect to the readers. The author, Shakespeare, gives these internal events to characters such as Ophelia, Gertrude, and Hamlet throughout the play to give the sense of excitement, suspense, and climax which associate with their external action. Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius and the sister of Laertes, who both tell her to stop seeing Hamlet. To Polonius, Ophelia is an eternal virgin who is going to be a
Hamlet Gravediggers Analysis
302 Words | 2 PagesThe overall theme of the scene with the gravediggers is death. The subject of suicide is important in this scene because Ophelia has killed herself and the gravediggers discuss whether it is deemed okay to bury her if she has not had her last rights. This subject has been discussed earlier in the play when King Hamlet was killed abruptly and also didn’t have his last rights given to him before dying. Hamlets famous soliloquy of “to be or not to be” is also about taking one’s own life and the repercussions of that decision.
Love Is Toxic In Shakespeare's Hamlet
937 Words | 4 PagesHamlet has not only become distraught from his conniving and lying stepfather but also his mother, Queen Gertrude as well. The unfaithfulness that Gertrude shows to Hamlet’s father and Hamlet has a toll on him and plays a part in his insanity. The facade that Hamlet displays slowly leads to his insanity, causing him to show mistreated love towards Ophelia. In the beginning of the play, Ophelia displays a very honest
Essay On Ophelia's Death In Hamlet
1427 Words | 6 PagesAlthough her death initially seems to be like a suicide, yet it was an accident. Suicide may have crossed Ophelia’s mind, because of the state she was in and everything that has happened with the men in her life. The pain and grief she went through is something she would probably like to get rid of, and perhaps once the tree branch broke, she just gave up and didn’t decide to fight the river currents. She was likely aware that she was drowning, and didn’t fight it because it is ironically a solution to her problems; but she did not consciously think of committing
Fate And Freewill In Hamlet
750 Words | 3 PagesThe actions of Hamlet is carried by his free will but the reactions for his actions were determined by his fate. It is a bit confusing. Throughout the play, Hamlet’s free will has been predetermined by his fate. In the process to take revenge on those who killed his father, leads to death of some characters and Hamlet at the end. “Nature’s livery or fortune’s star”, in act 1,scene 4,page 124.
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