This is the excellent foppery of the world, that,when we are sick in fortune,--often the surfeitof our own behavior,--we make guilty of ourdisasters the sun, the moon, and the stars: asif we were villains by necessity; fools byheavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, andtreachers, by spherical predominance; drunkards,liars, and adulterers, by an enforced obedience ofplanetary influence; and all that we are evil in,by a divine thrusting on: an admirable evasionof whoremaster man, to lay his goatishdisposition to the charge of a star.
In this passage from King Lear by William Shakespeare, the speaker reflects on human tendencies to blame external forces for personal failures. Instead of accepting responsibility for their actions, people often attribute their misfortunes to celestial bodies and fate, claiming that they are compelled to behave poorly by the influence of the stars. This perspective reveals a deep-seated denial of personal accountability.
This idea underscores the irony of human nature, as...
