Rolls_of_Predestination_in_Literature_and_in_Society

Rolls of Predestination in Literature and in Society Predestination seems to play an important roll in many influential works from past famous playwrights. Two prime examples of this are found in the form of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. There are three things that are important to understanding the rolls predestination has in these works and why they have fascinated people over the years. The first is understanding the basic plot of the play. The second is analyzing the endings of the works, and what they imply about the author’s view of predestination. The final one is asking one’s self what about predestination makes it interesting to people' Why would someone find any good in the idea that they are not in any way in control of their own fate' The plots are as simple or complex as the reader wants them to be. It is impossible to know exactly what the playwrights meant by what they wrote, but the beauty of literature is that it is open to interpretation by anyone. In Oedipus the King the theme of predestination is very easily seen. The play opens with the birth of a son (Oedipus) to the king and queen of Thebes. Shortly after the birth a prophet of Zeus informs them that their son will someday kill his father and marry his mother. To prevent this, the Parish 2 queen decides to leave her child in the wilderness to die, as was the common practice for unwanted children at the time. This is where the question of fate is first introduced. A prophecy has been made, and a human has attempted to thwart it. The idea of fate is continued throughout the play as Oedipus is told of the prophecy about him. When he hears it he leaves his home thinking he cannot kill his father or marry his mother if he is not even near them. Again here a human is attempting to thwart fate. Because of this on his journey away from his home in Corinth he unintentionally kills his father, whom he thinks to be a common bandit; and because of his heroic accomplishment of answering the riddles of the sphinx, and thereby saving Thebes, he is made the new king (since he just killed the old king unknowingly). At this point he completes the prophecy by marrying the king’s widow. In Hamlet Shakespeare does not present predestination in such an obvious manner as does Sophocles, but upon closer inspection of the dialogue in the play it is still easily seen. Some particularly good examples are these: “Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own,” and when Laertes communicates to Ophelia that Hamlet’s “will is not his own, / for he himself is subject to his birth.” Throughout the play Hamlet is seeking revenge on Claudius who killed Hamlet’s father and married his mother. When Claudius begins to suspect Hamlet’s intentions he orders him to be Parish 3 sent to England, and secretly put to death. One the sea voyage though, the ship taking him to England is attacked by pirates and after surviving he returns home. It is not long after he returns that he kills Claudius with a sword that Claudius himself had poisoned with the intention of killing Hamlet. It is not enough to know that the doctrine of predestination exists in the stories though. This leaves the reader with a very shallow understanding of the work. In order to more fully understand what the authors’ implications were one must look at how the story concludes. Oedipus the King has a rather tragic ending. Oedipus first discovers that he killed his wife’s former husband, the king of Thebes. This news in itself is devastating enough to him because there is a plague sweeping the land that has been said will only end when the former king’s killer is exiled from the city. Shortly after this he also is informed that not only did he kill the king, but his father; and upon hearing this it does not take him long to put two and two together, coming to the shocking realization that he has married his mother. Till this point in time his wife, Jacosta, herself did not even know. She had never discovered that her child survived. When she hears what has happened she runs and locks herself in her room. After Oedipus finally breaks in he finds that she has hung herself. He then takes a Parish 4 needle from her dress and gouges out his own eyes, and lives the rest of his life in exile. In Hamlet the ending is equally tragic. Hamlet returns home after his ship was attacked, and Claudius has planned a fencing match for him. Before the match he poisons the blade of the opponent’s sword so that if he draws blood Hamlet will die. He also has a backup plan. He poisons a goblet of wine as well so that if it is hamlet that draws first blood he will offer it to him and kill him that way. Nothing works the way it should though, and the queen drinks from the goblet, dying shortly after. While Hamlet is distracted by this his opponent strikes him with the poisoned sword, but he does not die right away. He has time to take the sword for himself and kill his opponent as well as stabbing Claudius with it and forcing him to drink the rest of the goblet of wine. In the end the entire royal family is dead. There are a few conclusions one can draw from these endings about the authors. First they did not view fate with a very optimistic perspective. They were likely trying to point out how pointless life really is, because we have no free will. If we have no power to decide what we do then what is the point of life' This idea is often referred to as “Cosmic Drama.” It states that life itself is exactly like a play. Everything a person does in their life is Parish 5 like a script that has already been written for them before they even enter the stage of life, much like an actor. Charles K. Cannon puts it this way: “If we actually accept the myth of the cosmic drama, in other words, we accept the doctrine of predestination in its most grimly rigorous sense, for the plot has already been written at our entrance.” Another idea that can be taken from the endings is the thought that man will normally react negatively to the idea that he, in reality, has no control over his own actions and life. He will attempt to prove the opposite. If predestination really does exist though, he will only succeed in frustrating himself. So how does this reflect on society as a whole' It is interesting to note that these plays are so popular. Why would people want to read something that is telling them that they cannot control their own lives' This seems an entirely negative idea. There are a few possible explanations for this. The first would be that people enjoy reading about, because of the fact that they do not believe in it. It is the same idea as the feeling one sometimes gets when someone is being embarrassed in front of them and they feel good about the situation not because they dislike the person or like that it is happening to them in particular, but because it is not happening to Parish 6 them self. They get the chance to somewhat experience embarrassment without actually having to be the one being embarrassed. In the same way someone can read about predestination and it makes them thankful that they have free will. A second explanation is, at least in the case of Oedipus the King, is that ancient people wanted to be impressed by prophecies that actually came true. The gods, and priests that supposedly spoke for the gods, played a large part in many ancient cultures. However the prophecies made by the priests were often very vague and perhaps did not come true at all. This makes believing in a myth about a very specific prophecy that actually did come true something to be desired. And the last theory this essay will discuss is that of the double-sidedness of the idea of predestination. On one hand it might seem negative if a person does not control their own fate. On the other hand though it can take a lot of worry off of a person if they believe that no matter what they do, their life will turn out the same through one sequence of events or another. If this is the truth then it is easy to live a very care-free lifestyle. In conclusion predestination has been a strong theme in much of history’s popular literature. As such anyone desiring to understand these stories or older literature in general must confront this idea sooner or later. It is important to understanding some aspects of culture as well. Works Cited 1. The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Winter, 1986), pp. 435-450 2. The Historical Journal, Vol. 46, No. 2 (Jun., 2003), pp. 263-294 3. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, Vol. 11, No. 2, Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama (Spring, 1971), pp. 203-222