Fate, Fortune, and Divine Providence Theme Analysis

While characters in The Two Noble Kinsmen have some degree of agency over their actions, they generally accept that fortune and fate shape their lives to a far greater extent than free will and determination. However, this doesn't mean they regard life as meaningless and arbitrary. To the contrary, characters generally accept whatever fate or fortune befalls them as a sign of Providence, or divine guidance. In other words, it’s the gods’ whims—not mere chance—that determine fate. This worldview allows characters to apply reason, stability, and meaning to an otherwise chaotic, unpredictable, and mysterious world. It also enables them to differentiate the noble from the wretched: good fortune comes to those the gods see as virtuous, and bad fortune comes to those they deem dishonorable.

For example, in Act I, Scene 4, Theseus returns to Athens after handily defeating Creon’s Theban army and states, “Th’ impartial gods, who from the mounted heavens / View us their mortal herd, behold who err / And, in their time, chastise.” In other words, Theseus and the Athenians’ victory is the consequence of the gods looking down on the “mortal herd” of humanity, deciding who “err[s]” (does wrong), and punishing them accordingly. Theseus regards his victory as divinely sanctioned evidence that he and the Athenians are honorable and that Creon and the Thebans are dishonorable. The final lines of Act 5, Scene 5 (also delivered by Theseus) also portray Arcite, Palamon, and Emilia’s fates as acts of Providence. Theseus sees Arcite’s defeat of Palamon in the tournament held to determine which cousin will marry Emilia and which will die as Mars’s answer to Arcite’s prayer for victory. He also interprets Arcite’s sudden death, which leaves Palamon free to wed Emilia, as Venus’s answer to Palamon’s prayer for love. Finally, Theseus regards the odd twist of fate that leads to Palamon and Emilia’s union as the goddess Diana’s answer to Emilia’s prayer, which was to marry the man who loves her best, since it was Palamon—not Arcite, the original victor—who prayed for love. The Two Noble Kinsmen therefore portrays Providence as an antidote to life’s instability, unpredictability, and discord. A belief in Providence allows the characters to apply meaning to events that otherwise would be senseless, ultimately giving order and value to lives that would otherwise be left entirely to chance.