First proposed in 1969 by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her book On Death and Dying, the five stages of grief have played a massive role in assisting people in processing and understanding their emotions when they are faced with tragedies and unhappy circumstances. The pattern and recurrent nature of the grief cycle can be found in many other areas of expression, including various forms of art. One such artistic expression showing a similar process is the exploration of fate in many of Shakespeare's plays. Two plays in particular, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark and The Tragedy of Macbeth, exemplify situations in which characters explore their fates in a pattern that is strikingly reflective of the way that modern people explore and come to understand their sense of grief.
Both Macbeth and Hamlet show early in their individual plays that they want to be in control over what happens in their lives, and each character struggles to come to terms with the idea that they are destined for something they did not expect. Denial, bargaining, and acceptance are each a part of the process of grief that are heavily influenced by the person's sense of control or lack thereof, and are therefore the stages that are most connected to concepts of fate and the struggle to have control over one's fate.
The stage of denial in the process of grief is reflected by Macbeth in his initial reluctance to believe the prophecies that the witches tell him. When he and Banquo first encounter the witches, both Banquo and Macbeth show that they doubt the truth of the prophecies being given to them; Banquo wonders if they have "eaten on the insane root/ That takes the reason prisoner," (Macbeth 1.3.84-85), and Macbeth says that he can't be Thane of Cawdor or the King because those positions are already taken (1.3.73-75). When his wife begins to plot to murder Duncan in order to obtain the kingship for her husband, Macbeth says he doesn't want the kingship if it means killing his king, stating, "He hath honored me of late, and I have bought/ Golden opinions from all sorts of people," (1.6.33-34). Later, Macbeth claims that to kill a King, or any guest in his own house, would be a great sin and such an action would only lead to "Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return/ To plague th' inventor," (1.7.9-10). Macbeth fears the consequences that he knows will plague him if he succumbs to his temptations.
Hamlet is also afraid of the consequences that he may face should he follow the path revealed to be his fate. He therefore attempts to deny his fate, hesitating to follow through on the demands from his father's ghost to "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder," (Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 1.5.26). Horatio warns Hamlet against trusting this spirit, saying "What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord/ Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff/…. And draw you into madness?" (1.4.69-74), and Hamlet himself wanders if "The that I have seen/ May be the devil," (2.2.599-600). Hamlet's is searching for a way to deny the validity of the claims that the ghost is making. His denial of his fate is a direct reflection of the stage of denial in the grieving of his father; in both the beginning and middle of the play, Hamlet gives soliloquies in which he contemplates the worth of life and the effort that he puts into life. His soliloquies show his desire to escape the situations that life has put him in, as he wishes that his "... too too sullied flesh would melt" (1.2.129) and he wonders whether "tis nobler of the mind to suffer/… Or to take arms against against a sea of troubles/ And by opposing end them," (3.1.58-61). In each speech, Hamlet is searching for answers to his predicament, whether in regards to his father suffering an untimely demise or him feeling called to avenge his father's death. Hamlet is incredibly unwilling to face the situations that he has been forced into, being so desperate for them to not be true that even his flesh melting and him dying might be a better alternative.
After the stage of denial is that of bargaining. Early in the play directly after Macbeth murders King Duncan, Macbeth says to Lady Macbeth, "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood/ Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather/ The multitudinous seas incarnadine," (2.2.64-66). Macbeth wishes that his hands to be washed clean of the King's blood and for his own guilt to therefore be absolved. Lady Macbeth gives a similar sentiment when she wanders the castle in a sleepwalk, searching for answers to how to avoid the doomed fate that she sees before her. "Out, damned spot!/ Out, I say!" she states, as though believing that if she can only wash her "little hands" (5.1.50) clean of the blood of the king, she will be spared the horrible fate that awaits murderers and those who commit regicide. This image of bloodstained hands is one that is shared by both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, and excellently portray not only the stage of bargaining, but also the reflection of the aspect of grief in which multiple people can be affected by the same tragedy. The madness and regret over the murder of King Duncan that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth appear to experience is shared between the two of them; this connection is emphasized by the actresses interactions in Mac Beth, as those playing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth constantly draw close to each other, touching one another and reacting quickly to each other's movements as though they are physically and psychologically connected. Act five, scene one shows that the process of fate, though personal, is not isolated to the singular person experiencing their fate. Just as with processing grief, Macbeth's fate and his understanding of it influences and is influenced by the people around him, as shown by he and his wife both lamenting their stained hands and trying to bargain their way out of the consequences; if only the two of them can wash their hands of this sinful deed, they can avoid being punished for their despicable crimes.
Hamlet bargains with fate as well, constantly trying to find a way out of his current circumstances so that he does not have to be the one to carry out his father's orders or deal with the consequences thereof. In fact, Hamlet spends the majority of the play stuck in the phase of bargaining; it is this phase that the audience has the most exposure to through Hamlet's multiple soliloquies. Hamlet recognizes that he is being called to kill his uncle, but nonetheless attempts to find a way around it, struggle with what he wants and what he sees as his duty as a son. Even his religious views about murder inhibit his ability to move forward in accepting his fate and and taking action against his uncle (3.3.73-88). Hamlet is incredibly concerned with what will happen to him once he is dead if he does kill his uncle, and expresses this fear in act five scene one while in the graveyard with Horatio. Hamlet, suddenly confronted with a vivid face-to-face moment with death in the form of the skull of Yorick, realizes the finality of the death that he may come to, and searches for a way out by trying to reason that other great men have achieved something beyond death. Hamlet lifts the skull and begins to consider what death really means, not only for himself, but for all the great men of the past as well. As he goes down a list of legendary people, Hamlet comes to the realization that "Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander/ returneth to dust…" (5.1.209-210) and that "Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay,/ Might stop a hole to keep the wind away," (5.1.213-214). Hamlet cannot bargain his way out of his fate, nor can he escape the fate of all men: to become dirt in the ground.
Macbeth accepts his fate much more quickly than Hamlet did. His wife plays a large role in encouraging Macbeth to accept his fate, and is the first one to plainly voice that Macbeth should kill King Duncan, telling him to "Look like the innocent flower,/ but be the serpent underneath," (1.6.65-66). Later that very night, Macbeth has a vision of a dagger leading him towards Duncan's chambers, and he questions, "Is this a dagger/ Which I see before me,/ The handle towards my hand?" (2.1.34-35). Macbeth interprets the vision of the dagger as being a sign that he is truly meant to kill King Duncan, and he subsequently embraces what he views to be his destiny. Later, the audience is witness not only to Macbeth's tyrannous kingship, but also the lengths he is willing to go to to stay king. Synchronicity Theater's adaptation Mac Beth does an excellent job at portraying the emotional turmoil that comes along with the decisions that Macbeth makes in his struggles to maintain his crown. The audience watch this particular adaptation in varying degrees of fascination and horror as the actresses playing the characters scream and sob and draw lines of red across each others' throats with knives to symbolize the blood that is being shed all for the sake of a prophecy that, as Banquo states, "...tell us truths,/ Win us with honest trifles, to betray's/ In deepest consequence," (1.3.124-126). These "truths" that Banquo warns Macbeth against trusting are exactly those same truths that Macbeth puts all of his faith in upon seeing the dagger and deciding to accept his fate.
The stage of acceptance is shown in Hamlet when Hamlet talking to Horatio in Act Five Scene Two. The conversation occurs just before the fencing dual, where Hamlet plans to kill Claudius and therefore avenge his father's death. Up until this point in the play, Hamlet has remained hesitant to carry out any action against his uncle, stating at one point that "Our wills and fates do so contrary run/ That our devices still are overthrown;/ Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own," (3.2.208). Hamlet has been stagnating in the phase of bargaining, constantly trying to find ways around the fate that he sees hurtling towards him and backing out of killing his uncle even when given perfect opportunities. During this conversation with Horatio, however, Hamlet comforts not only Horatio but also himself with the assurance that "There's a/ special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come. If it be not to/ come, it will be now. If it be not now, yet it/ will come—the readiness is all." (5.2.217-220). Hamlet appears to accept the situation that he is in, and therefore come to terms with the concept that his fate is not something that he can avoid, only accept and embrace. The discussion of how Hamlet feels about meeting Laertes in a fencing duel spurs Hamlet to come to this conclusion. This duel is the final scene of the play, and is also the scene in which Hamlet finally avenges his father, dying in the process just as he initially feared. His final conversation with Horatio assures Horatio - and the audience - that he is at peace with both his actions and his death, having at long last accepted his fate.
Hamlet and Macbeth's acceptance of their fates mark the end of their individual cycles of fate, much like the stage of acceptance marks the end of the cycle of grief. Their individual stories each reflect the cycle of grief in different ways, but there is a clear pattern in their journey to understanding their situations and coming to terms with the inevitability of their destinies. The steps towards this reconciliation form different stages that are discernible from one another in a similar manner as the steps towards accepting tragedy and sorrow. In following the stories of Hamlet and Macbeth, one can clearly see that the cycle of grief is depicted in these two plays through the way that Shakespeare shows his characters exploring and coming to terms with their fates.
