What does it mean that Hamlet defies augury?
In the final scene, why does Hamlet tell Horatio, “We defy augury” [1]? Hamlet refers to scripture often in this part of the scene - “The readiness is all” [2], “the fall of a sparrow” [3]. But augury? What might that have meant to Elizabethan audiences? Generally, augury is related to the belief in omens and signs, as mentioned by Horatio in the first scene of the play when he speaks of omens in Roman graveyards and in the heavens, “the like precurse of feared events, As harbingers preceding still the fates And prologue to the omen coming on”. [4] Augury in the story of the founding of Rome involved Romulus and Remus observing birds to determine fate or the will of the gods: The two had survived their great uncle’s attempt to drown them (and are adopted by a she-wolf, perhaps as Laertes is figuratively adopted and manipulated by Claudius?); they argued about where to locate the city. They decided to use augury to settle the dispute, but still argued about the ou...
