Character Is Fate
Character is Fate
Fate is a word associated with the cycle of life. Although fate is a term that means different things to different individuals, cultures and societies, the simplest definition is that it is inevitable. In many aspects of life, character precipitates fate and this is heavily portrayed in literature.
A novel that illustrates this point clearly is the Scarlet Letter. This is a novel in which a woman is handed a terrible fate yet, due to her character, she manages to alter her fate. Hester Prynne is punished for falling in love by being ostracized from society and having to hide her beauty. However, Hester grows into a more beautiful and knowledgeable woman regardless of these punishments and thus she transforms the meaning of the letter into something positive. Because of her character Hester is accepted and admired by society and thus she changes her fate.
In Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman's technique in dealing with conflict by escaping into the past, leads to very serious consequences. Willy's refusal to accept reality blinds him, as he lives in his own dream world in the past in order to ease the hardship he is undergoing. By living in this dream world of his mottoes and false ideas, Willy destroys his relationship with his family. The dream world brought on by his inability to deal with his hardships leads to his death when he comes to the point of realization. Again, his fate is brought on by his inability to deal with the problems at hand.
Shakespeare's plays deal with the idea of character being fate very strongly. Shakespeare uses another technique as he deals with the idea of a tragic hero who possesses a character flaw, which guides him to his downfall. Hamlet is the classic example of a tragic character (where the hero suffers throughout the play and dies at the end) as his tragedy is brought on by himself. His character flaw of procrastinating to kill Claudius leads to...
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