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Hamlet free will examples
Hamlet free will and fate
Free will,determinism and responsibility
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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. …show more content…
Consequently, Killing a man or woman is acceptable because God intended for that murder to happen. Therefore, to assert that a micromanaging Stromboli controls every human action creates little need for any type of accountability. Even if someone ignores repercussions for murder imposed by the legal system humans would not suddenly engage in murder without mercy on a massive scale because we have an a priori sense of goodness. If we do have the free will to change the future we must reject the notion of being powerless to fate, or we more easily fall to evil impulses or what Jews call Yetzer Hara. Instead, we must retain our sense of personal accountability and by writing off the future as inevitable we only serve to exacerbate
Stoppard’s existentialist philosophy emphasized on personal freedom and the option of direction of life with possibilities that are less limited. These two contrasting values of society significantly control the reader’s perception when studying the way they were ‘transformed.’ An instance of the religious diversifications is the beliefs and ideals on death. In the play ‘Hamlet’ death is displayed as dramatic and violent with examples involving sword fights and poisoning. Due to his beliefs, Stoppard brings the probability that death isn’t an event that causes judgment by some divine values of the Elizabethan Christianity. This is displayed by Guildenstern when he defines death as “simply failing to re-appear”. The comparison here depicts death’s uncertainty, and by this transformation the reader comes to the opinion that death is like secrecy to all of us, no matter what era or beliefs one mi...
...ate. This is shown in the books The Prince, Macbeth, The Oresteia, and The Divine Comedy. God is the one who decides what happens to someone during their life, but humans can influence his decision and ultimately decide their own fate. In Macbeth and The Oresteia, Agamemnon and Macbeth are both given prophecies. Agamemnon was given a choice on sacrificing his daughter or not and Macbeth had the choice to either let chance happen or take matters into his own hands. These books show that human beings do in fact have control over their fate. Sometimes in these books they blame the Gods or other people and say that they made them do it. Since human beings have free will this is not a viable excuse. People can react to things however they want. Therefore, even though God may decide what happens to you, human beings control their fate by the actions they choose in life.
It is clear Hamlet can be interpreted from a multitude of perspectives on numerous levels. I cannot quite grasp Mr. Bloom's contention that this is a work of near biblical importance nor can I accept his allusions to Jesus or the Buddha. "Hamlet remains apart; something transcendent about him places him more aptly with the biblical King David, or with even more exalted scriptural figures."(Bloom, 384). My immediate response is that when Mr. Bloom shuffles off this mortal coil, I don't believe Billy Shakespeare will be waiting with a pint of ale.
Death is an eternal mystery and the most controversial subject stemming from human inexperience. Its inescapability and uncertainty can give insights on the core principles and vulnerability of human nature. In Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet he skilfully makes use of death as a lashing force to explore the depths of his characters along the way illustrating man’s continual dilemma “To be or not to be”?
"To be or not to be? That is the question." (Shakespeare 57) Hamlet opens his famous soliloquy with the question whether it is harder to live and endure the many vicissitudes of life or to die and face the unknown territory of death. He wondered what happens after one dies, and what awaits each of us. The uncertainty in knowing what is to come of us after death, led Hamlet to believe that fear is generated by the unknown, for it makes people fear the things they cannot see and control. He reasoned that if our certitude of what happens after death is absolute, then people would willingly bear the grief that life so kindly offers. Hamlet raises the following philosophical question, is it harder
One of William Shakespeare’s greatest works is a play entitled Hamlet. This play is about Prince Hamlet whose father, the king, was killed by his Uncle, Claudius, who then took the throne. Shortly after the death of his father, Gertrude, his mother, married Claudius. His father comes back as a ghost and tells him about the murder and asks him to seek revenge on Claudius. This is when a great controversy arises that is debatable to this day. Hamlet begins to act mad to set up his revenge on Claudius. The question is, does Hamlet still truly possess his sanity, or is he really mad?
Even though Hamlet is a prince, he has little control over the course of his life. In that time many things were decided for the princes and princesses such as their education and even who they married. This was more or less the normal way of life for a child of the monarch. But in the case of Hamlet, any of the control he thought he had, fell away with the murder of his father. Having his father, the king, be killed by his own brother, sent Hamlet into a state of feeling helpless and out of control. Cooped up in a palace with no real outlet, he tries to control at least one aspect of his life. Hamlet deliberately toys with Ophelia's emotions in order to feel in control of something since he cannot control the situation with Claudius.
Predestination, fate and density are nonexistent. There is no higher power forcing one’s self to take a certain route; God has not chosen a destination for anyone. Every human has the ability to decide his/ her course of action. It is free will that will lead to doom or salvation. This paper will explore the idea of predestination in relevance to the play No Exit as well as in the context of the day to day life of the average individual.
My analysis of Hamlet’s fascination and fear of death has led me to think that William Shakespeare created this play for the people of England. The play was used as a podium that allowed for the concerns of the common English people to be seen and heard. It is not a coincident that Hamlet was written after the Reformation. It is not a coincident that the fears that Hamlet had of death could have been eased with Catholic traditions. Finally it is not a coincident that they all die in the end of the play, because in the end the Catholic traditions died in
The play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, shows human nature to be greedy, self-involved and vengeful. Claudius is driven by his greed to commit murder. Polonius is always looking out for himself, currying favor at the expense of anyone in his way. Hamlet thinks only of vengeance from the moment he finds out about Claudius murdering his father. Human nature has been all of these things, but it has also evolved through the ages. We can be base and cruel, but we can also show great compassion and kindness.
In the famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy, Hamlet examines the power of death by suicide. The powerful words of “to be or not to be” question whether to live or not to live. Hamlet weighs the morality of “whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer” or to end one’s life. In comparison, death is like sleep, a way to relieve the pain and suffering. Hamlet thinks death is the desirable course, but he worries about the uncertainty of afterlife. After Hamlet’s realization of the afterlife, he reconfigures his metaphor to include dreaming. It is the fear of the afterlife that prevents people from ending their pain with suicide. Hamlet finds i...
The matrix theory is a question that illustrates the personal aspect of decision. The philosophy offers no choice, but revolves around a decision of bliss or truth (Diocaretz 9). Such an aspect is depicted in William Shakespeare’s textbook tragedy, Hamlet. The protagonist has to make a similar decision between his moral belief and obligation, however he falls into an uncertain state of mind and hesitates to act. After meeting with a ghost, who tells him to seek revenge against his uncle Claudius, Hamlet is determined to take action. Conversely he has a compulsion to moral law, which yields him to lack firmness. Critiques commonly label Hamlet as a man of contemplation rather than action. Consequently his periods of inactivity, tentative emotions, and constant hesitation characterize Hamlet as indecisive.
The discussion of free will versus fate will last through time as no one knows nor will know the actual answer to the question. However, in almost every literary situation, whenever man attempts to avoid fate, a chain of unexpected unfortunate events are unleashed and a divine master plan is fulfilled. Man must simply act according to his own convictions concerning the matter and hope that if Fate is indeed existent, there might be an even balance between her and the freedom of choice. Works Cited Ahlman, Marti. The "Hamlet Study Guide.
While reading Hamlet and studying philosophy, I notice some subtle overlaps when Christianity is brought up in the life of Hamlet and in the lives of nonfiction philosophers who have devoted their lives to answer questions about christianity. Looking at both of these overlapping topics I have come to the conclusion that most, if not all, of the Christian/Catholic philosophers that I have studied would say that Hamlet’s faith is weak at best. The first thing that I picked up on is the concept of free will. At this point in the play, Hamlet seems to believe that he can change his own fate and die without being damned, however the collective idea that religious philosophers have about feel will is that God has predetermined the life that you will
Hamlet the Hero There are various ways to define a hero. There is an endless amount of people who are heroes. A hero can be, "one who exhibits courage and/or daring," a hero can be, "one who is supremely noble or self-sacrificing," a hero can be a champion or a winner. A hero can save the day, or even save your life.