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Hamlet's Fall Of A Sparrow Essay

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Hamlet's "fall of a sparrow" speech, Shakespeare's well-known citation of Matthew 10:29, and Ecclesiastes 3:15 is a summary of God's view of time: "That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God required that which is past" (King James Translation). The Preacher first states that the past is the present, a familiar perception, but then makes the paradoxical claim that the future has already happened in the past (Carson 1995).
Hamlet remembers the Gospel according to St. Matthew, chapter 10: "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your …show more content…

The two ideas and his final statement affirms his belief in God's necessity; “things have to happen as they do.” In general terms, the verse means that since God oversees all time and creatures, he experiences everything in an eternal present, and therefore all human acts have been (and always are) necessary, even though they seem to spring from circumstance. Whereas the Preacher diminishes the future in emphasizing that it has already occurred in the past and asserts that the present is merely the tip of the past, Hamlet pins his hopes on the future, immediate or eventual, because as he said earlier about his unacted revenge. The past certainly circumscribes Hamlet's present and determines his future, but Hamlet dwells on the future because that is when his revenge must come. Both the Preacher's and Hamlet's words carry the tone of grave acquiescence in divine destiny; however, the Preacher's words come in the context of a warning, whereas Hamlet's indicate his preparation and encourage. Having faith in God, I would say that is where Hamlet found his courage regardless of the fortune that he would have received if he

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