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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Background of Study
Literature is an expression in art and concern with all aspects of human life, and the whole universe. Through literature we can know all the aspects of
human life and about problem of society. Literary works represents a vital record of what one have seen in life, what they have though and left about
those aspects which have the most immediate and enduring interest for all of us, as it the events occur in the plot really come into existence. It the
fundamentally and expression of life through the medium of language. According to Sinha 1977 : 157 literature attempts to influence, flatter and
change reader’s mind and studying literature mans to know ourselves in particular and people generally
Besides that Taylor said 1981 : 57 “ literature is said to be the school of life that authors tend to comment on the conduct of the society and of
individuals in the society. “ So, Taylor means that literature may become tool of valuing people in their behavior both collectively and individually.
In general, literature is divided into three kinds, they are: poetry, novel and play. Poetry is dominated by the rhythm and melody; novel is a narrative kind
of fictitious writing, and play is the combination of dialogue and stage. Play is a work literature or a composition which is designed for performance, purpose
and delineates life and human activity by means of presenting various actions
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2 often either monologues or dialogues of a character or a group of character.
Shakespeare 1564-1616 was an English playwright who wrote over thirty plays. Most of them were written for the immediate needs of his own
theatrical company and for immediate performance. Some of them were not printed until ten or twenty years after they were first performed. Although the
plays were written years ago, many of them are still read widely as classics in literary world. Shakespeare’s
name is the greatest in all literature. There is no man ever came to near him in his creative power of the mind and no man
such variety of his imagination. he is considered as belonged to more than one world. He was a man of his time, but he was not limited by it. His plays which
draw deeply from a quarry of historical as well as current material, means new things for new generation. He writes many kinds o plays which are read even
till today. Long 1991 : 87 said that he has excellent ability in analyzing human characters.
This thesis deals with play as the main source of analysis. Tillyard 1970 : 52 said that , Hamlet is powerfully aware of the baffling human predicament
between the angels and the beast, between the glory of having been made in God’s image and incrimination of being descended from fallen Adam. That is
in Shakespeare’s. Hamlet must be regarded as Shakespeare’s most successful play. It has unceasing theatrical vitally, and the character of Hamlet himself
has become a figure a literary mythology by Encyclopedia Britanica 1992 : 625 .
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3 Hamlet must be regarded as Shakespeare’s most successful play. It has
unceasing theatrical vitally, and the character of Hamlet himself has become a figure a literary mythology. Hazlitt 1900 : 76 says that Hamlet is a little of
the hero as a man can well be: but he is a young and princely novice, full of high enthusiasm and quick sensibility, the sport of circumstance, questioning
with fortune and refining on his own feelings, and forced from the natural bias of his disposition by the strangers of his situation. Hamlet presents a view of
the world in which man’s intellect is powerless to understand and predict the him of free will and fate. Free will in man, is the power of self-determination;
the capacity to choose among alternatives or to act in certain situation independently or natural, social or divine restraints. The concept of fate is
sometimes used to denote a person’s path in life, not necessarily determined by any one person or thing but the out come of a combination of the
necessary, the accidental, the spontaneous, the conscious in human life. Man is governed by an uncaring and perhaps deranged power. The characters of the
play are in no way able to comprehend what may lie in the future. This analysis focuses on free will and fate in the play Hamlet.
Hamlet is the story of Prince of Denmark, returns from his studies abroad to attend the funeral of his father and subsequent wedding of his mother to his
uncle. He wants to keep the memory of his father alive and painful. He is truly appalled at how easily his mother seems to forget her first husband. He is
quite pertubered by his mother’s second marriage, in view of its haste and incestuous implications. He soon meets with a specter claiming to be the ghost
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4 of his father, ant tells him he was murdered by his own brother, and
commands him to seek revenge. He agrees to do so, but conflicted by his own nature, he does not act immediately. He concentrates on eternal fight between
free will and destiny. His uncle and the councilor have their suspicious about the young man and keep close watch. Falsehood and Playacting occur on all
sides creating mayhem and madness. Revenge is eventually exacted, but at a cost far too dear, all the primary objective characters, with the exception of
prince’s friend, suffer a tragic death.
1.2 Problem of the Analysis
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