The question of destiny has been asked by human beings throughout the ages. Are our lives determined by what is “inevitable” or is it just happenstance? Thomas Hardy addresses this issue in his poem "Hap", which expresses the belief that the sorrow of life is simply due to chance and that a vengeful God would be preferable to this state of existence. This idea that our lives are governed by chance is also present in Thomas Hardy's novel, The Mayor of Casterbridge, which follows a man named Michael Henchard through his successes and failures in the small town of Casterbridge, beginning with the drunken sale of his wife. and child. Hardy's characters repeatedly throughout the novel refer to chance as the cause of their unhappiness, and in doing so they fail to recognize that these misfortunes are almost entirely due to the choices and failures of the characters themselves. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay The poem “Hap” explores two possibilities: the first being that there is a “cruel and vengeful God” (line 1) at the root of the speaker's suffering, and the second being that everything in life is left to chance. The latter is what Hardy's poem ultimately recognizes as "true"; however, in both cases the discussion of these two possibilities completely ignores the existence of choice and free will. In the poem, the speaker says that "Crass Casualty stands in the way of sun and rain" (line 11), personifying the concept of chance in an attempt to assign blame. Hardy's characters in The Mayor of Casterbridge often display the same belief, attributing their sorrows to a force outside themselves or their fellow men, and thus failing to realize that it is their own choices that are the driving force behind almost all of them. major events along the way. of the novel. At the very beginning of the novel, Susan asks this question of the role of chance in her own life. The narrator remarks about her: "When [Susan] plodded along in the shadow of the hedge, thinking silently, she had the hard and half-listless expression of one who considers that everything is possible in the hands of Time and Luck, except, perhaps. , Fair play." Here, Susan expresses a pessimistic view not only of life, but specifically of chance, which she believes will bring her anything but happiness. She does not realize that her sorrow does not come primarily from chance, but as a direct result of the choices she and her husband make Even the trials over which she has no control are not due to chance, but to Henchard is perhaps the best example of the denial of importance. of choice and personal action This is evident in the narrator's statement that "the movements of [Henchard's] mind seemed to tend to think that some power was acting against him." his misfortune, without ever considering that his current situation may simply be the result of his own conduct. Henchard's failure to take responsibility for his actions, instead looking to external forces to place the blame on, is. even more evident in Henchard's own reflection: "I wonder if it is possible that someone has roasted a wax image of me, or I am brewing some unholy brew to confound myself!" I don't believe in such power, and yet – what if they should have done it! Although Henchard does not blame chance in these cases, opting instead for the view of a "vengeful God" presented in "Hap", the fact remains that he has not yet realized that his own choices had immense ;.