AP English Literature and Composition
7 March 2016
Common Themes in Hamlet and Light in August
Throughout history, Shakespeare’s plays have been considered among the greatest works
ever written. His major work, Hamlet, has been hailed as a masterpiece centered on many
important themes. Similarly, William Faulkner’s work, Light in August, is highly praised
for its discussion of many morals and even likened to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Many
scholars examine how Shakespeare & Faulkner both shared many important thoughts and
themes throughout their works, such as fate and free will, identify, and memory. Other
scholars discuss how their perspectives and expectations for these morals differ
significantly.
In addition to Hamlet being Shakespeare’s most popular tragedy, its is also Shakespeare’s
most frequently analyzed play for its tragic and important themes such as the free will of
his characters. Starting with this quote “There’s a divinity that shapes our ends/
Rough-hew them how we will” The play recounts Shakespeare description of how the
choice between good and evil represents man’s basic difficulty for him, the human will is
impossible to defeat (can you paraphrase that so it will be clear ). “the consummate
Christian tragic hero, fate exists, but human choices may cancel its power. Hamlet never
stops choosing the paths he will take.” (cliff notes). This quote by critics in cliff notes
define the existence of fate and freewill in Hamlet by describing the power of the human
determine the path that is taken and follows the famous to be or not to be soliloquy “To be,
or not to be- that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and
arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles” (Hamlet). critics
discuss this quote with this way “The alternatives here are passively to suffer or actively to
oppose; either to accept whatever life and fortune may inflict on you, or else to defy their
onslaught, as expressed in the metaphor of taking arms against a sea of troubles.” (Harold)
this famous quote is definitely a main evidence of fate and free will in the book, the
question is always suggested in the book in many characters and the choices is always
against their fate and is made by their own free will.
Compared to Shakespeare’s point of view of fate and free in his work Hamlet, Faulkner
also view it as one of his main themes in his book light in August. The theme is applied
