“AS FLIES TO THE WANTON BOYS, ARE WE TO THE

GODS; THEY KILL US FOR THEIR SPORT .”

By
Arslan Aslam

Submitted to: Sir Nisar Zafar

Course: MA English 1st Semester (Evening)

Roll Number: 817005

Department of English (UGS)

National University of Modern Languages,

Islamabad, Pakistan

1
Man Vs fate and fate Vs man are the topics which are widely discussed without any satisfactory
answer. The line “as flies to the wanton boys, are we to the gods; the kill us for their sport” by
Shakespeare is more appropriate and suitable for “Oedipus Rex” between ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Oedipus
Rex’.
In “Hamlet” we see, Hamlet the protagonist of the play is performing almost all the actions
according to his will. Indeed, Claudius deserves serious punishment of the murder he has
committed and revenge is to some extent understandable and acceptable. But instead of killing
him, some legal actions should be taken against Claudius. Besides this, according to Hamlet’s
religious beliefs, Claudius will be punished by god after his death and he should leave it to god.
Furthermore, we see, he very intelligently plans to kill his uncle Claudius and mistakenly kills
Ophelia’s father Polonius. He kills Polonius unconsciously, however this murder is justified.
Here destiny plays a vital role that instead of killing his uncle he kills Polonius. Here we see
Hamlet as a puppet in the hands of fate. This murder is indirectly the work of fate and unluckily
he commits an unwanted crime. But Ophelia’s death is also result of this master mind. He just
prefers his revenge and totally negates the love of Ophelia which causes her death. As far as
Claudius’ murder is concerned, throughout the whole play we can clearly see that he is planning
from the very start of the play when he meets to the ghost of his father. Here he is not a puppet in
the hands of destiny. We see how many people have died just as a result of Hamlet’s revenge.
Polonius, Gertrude, Leartes and Hamlet himself die just because of Hamlet’s planned revenge.
So, Hamlet is not justified.
If we gaze upon the life of ‘Oedipus’ in “Oedipus Rex”, he is the character which is the victim of
fate throughout the whole play. As far as my opinion is concerned, the above given line is most
suitable for Oedipus. Oedipus, by birth, is set-up to suffer and there is no way out to get rid of
the victimization. We see in the play that how he leaves his house after knowing his fate. He
takes different steps to avoid his destiny. But as he is a fatalist he has to face his fate, as a result
he kills an old man on his way. Later, he marries his mother and becomes the king. At the end he
comes to know that the person whom he has killed was his father and the woman, he has
married, is his mother. From here the sufferings of Oedipus gets started and instead of
committing suicide he decides to live and suffer. He thinks that if he kills himself the suffering
will come to an end but his crime is so big that he should live and suffer. In the morning, he is a
king and in the evening he becomes a blind beggar. Although he takes all the steps to avoid his
fate yet he has to face his fate. In the play, we find him as a puppet which is working through
strings and strings are in the hands of destiny. He is being operated by god. He is just a victim, a
victim to work upon the written.
At the end, I personally believe that both the characters are to some extent victim of fate but
Oedipus is the most and the under discussion line is most suitable for Oedipus Rex.