Our wills and fates do so contrary run / That our devices still are overthrown. / Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own.
Act III, Scene 2
Context
The Player King concludes his speech by saying that human plans are always thwarted by fate, so our thoughts belong to us but their outcomes do not.
Analysis
The antithesis—'Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own'—splits intention from result so cleanly that it almost excuses failure: if fate overthrows all human 'devices,' then Hamlet's delay is not cowardice but cosmic inevitability. Yet this fatalism also strips action of meaning, raising the question of whether revenge is even possible in a world where 'wills and fates do so contrary run.' The balanced syntax (wills/fates, thoughts/ends) makes fate and will seem like equal opponents locked in permanent stalemate.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that the play-within-a-play articulates the philosophy that paralyzes Hamlet—if outcomes are always 'overthrown,' then deliberation becomes indistinguishable from procrastination.