Free Destiny vs. Controlled Fate in Antigone Essay -- Sophocles

Fate is an old debated concept. Do singles actions truly play a role in find ones sprightliness? Is fate freedom to some or is it binding to others, in that no individual can make completely individual decisions, and therefore, no one is truly free. Nowadays, fate is a subject often rejected in society, as it is seen as too big, too idealistic, and too hard to wrap a persons head around. However, at the time of Antigone, the concept was a terrifying reality for most people. Fate is the will of the gods, and as is apparent in Antigone, the gods will is not to be questioned. Much of Sophocles work focuses on the fence between human law and what is believed to be the gods law. Fate was an unstoppable force and it was false that any efforts to change ones future were unrealistic. In Sophocles Antigone, fate plays a crucial role the choices that the characters make. Most people believe that Creon and Antigone were under the influence of forces that they could not control, in the decis ions they made and the actions that they took. Despite Antigones morals and her practice of those morals, she cannot escape the family curse. She states, You would think that we had already suffered enough for the curse on Oedipus (prologue.2-3). Ironically Antigone will suffer the rest of her life because of what her father/brother did. Her life had been rocked so much by this family curse that only Ismene remains, and she lost the last thing that mattered to her--her sister Antigone, who surprisingly took her own life. Antigones strong beliefs in the gods laws can really be heard when she said Your edict, King, was strong, but all your strength is weakness itself against the immortal hot laws of god. They are not merely now they ... ...n offering at the altar but the god of fire failed me so the flame never blazed (5.10-22). The birds may epitomise the family, two brothers killing each other, Creon sentencing Antigone to die. Or Antigone opting to hang herself which leads Haim on to try and kill his father but getting killed himself instead, and as a result Creons wife commits suicide. The gods dont confront acceptance of this situation, because the family has been doomed into the fate of death.A lot can be learned about an author by just reading his or her works. For congresswoman one can easily learn about Sophocles view on fate just by reading Antigone. Much of Sophocles work focuses on the struggle between human law and what is believed to be the gods law. Sophocles believed that Fate was an unstoppable force and it was assumed that any efforts to change ones future were completely unrealistic.