At the heart of every great tragedy is the universal struggle between the human inclination to accept fate absolutely and the natural desire to control destiny (Stockton). Like most of his plays, in Shakespeare's masterpiece, Hamlet, one of the dominant themes centers on the question: "Do fate and providence trump the man's own choices and decisions?" 'man ? Throughout the work, the main character Hamlet sees Fortune from different perspectives as he plots and plans his revenge. This complex interpretation of the influence of Fate is also shared with Horatio, Hamlet's most precious friend. Their evaluations seem to waver depending on the situation or when they experience something in particular. Destiny and Fortune, and Providence in all its ambiguity, are sometimes seemingly linked to the actions of man and other times they are inescapable. At the beginning of the play, Horatio and his companions, Bernardo and Marcellus, witness the sudden and frightening appearance of Hamlet's deceased father, former king of Denmark. The three friends are “torn with fear and wonder” when they encounter the ghost and Horatio is convinced to try to speak to him (Shakespeare, II, p. 2). Before engaging the ghost in battle, Horatio remembers the time before "the fall of the mightiest Julius," when "the tombs were tenantless and the dead wrapped in sheets / squealed and gibbered in the Roman streets." . (Shakespeare, II p. 4) In this case, the resurrection of the dead precipitated the sudden and premature demise of Julius Caesar, a horrible misfortune that shook all of Rome. Likewise, Horatio sees the parallelism in the appearance of King Hamlet's ghost, concluding that its manifestation must be doom's morbid signal of impending doom and disaster (Weller). When Horatio arrives middle of paper ......s To avoid fate, a chain of unfortunate and unexpected events is set in motion and a divine plan comes to fruition. Man must simply act according to his own beliefs in the matter and hope that if destiny does indeed exist, there might be a balanced balance between it and freedom of choice. Works Cited Ahlman, Marti. “Hamlet Study Guide.” AP English. Calvary Christian School. Georgia, Columbus. March 8, 2014. Reading. Blackmore, Simon Augustine. The Riddles of Hamlet. Boston: Stratford & Company, 1917. Shakespeare Online. August 2, 2011. < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/hamlet/divineprovidence.html >.Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. London: Dover Publications Inc, 1992. Print.Stockton, Carla Lynn. CliffsNotes on Hamlet. March 2, 2014. Weller, Philip. Hamlet Navigator. Shakespeare Browsers, nd Web. March 2. 2014.