**shelby**
09-27-2006, 05:53 PM
My teacher gave us two days to redo a test, which was an essay. I didn't have time to do it last night and so I'm doing it tonight. The question is: Fate or free will? Explain which person or force has the Greatest effect on Antigone's destiny?
This is what i have so far:
The question of fate or free will has long since plagued the world in which we live. My fellow peers might argue fate and some might argue free will, but I believe that fate had the biggest impact on Antigone's destiny. In Greek tradgey, the homo sapiens' beliefs were strictly polythestic. These great people believed that the gods controlled all things and their fate lay in the hands of these gods. Antigone's destiny is one of predestination, a mission of the gods which begins with her ill-fated family and Creon's decree, and ends with her own actions. The actions of her mother and father suggest that perhaps Antigone is destined to a horrible doom. This young woman is a marionette of the gods, strings tight, she is pulled from here to there and she falls only when they break.
Divine law can be defined as a rule coming directly from the gods. According to Greek mythology, each god is believed to possess unique powers that can either help or hinder the lives of mortals. Their role in the lives of humans is illustrated in Antigone with her death. Sophocles emphasizes in Antigone that the gods’ will is carried out by people and that fate takes control of all life. Sophocles' Antigone seals her fate when she buries her brother. Her decision is not one of free will, but one of divine direction. I think that this civil disobedience is a tool of the gods to govern the earth. Antigone, from the moment from the declaration, is destined to die because it is her fate and her duty to bury her brother. Under the idea of free will she would have been able to save herself by not completing the task, but because of the will of the gods she has no choice but to properly honor her fallen sibling. Antigone is doomed from the moment she is born, her acts of civil disobedience are just the strings the gods use to manipulate their puppet.
In a sense, fate is just a word that means the road leads to death. All of us are going to die sooner or later, Antigone was destined to die early. The will of the gods can't be changed. Fate is just like the lottery. No one knows what is going to happen and if anything good is going to come of it. And this we as a people have to accept. Antigone didn't know what was going to happen in her life and she had no control over it.
I am sooo frustrated with this and I don't know what else to say!:
This is what i have so far:
The question of fate or free will has long since plagued the world in which we live. My fellow peers might argue fate and some might argue free will, but I believe that fate had the biggest impact on Antigone's destiny. In Greek tradgey, the homo sapiens' beliefs were strictly polythestic. These great people believed that the gods controlled all things and their fate lay in the hands of these gods. Antigone's destiny is one of predestination, a mission of the gods which begins with her ill-fated family and Creon's decree, and ends with her own actions. The actions of her mother and father suggest that perhaps Antigone is destined to a horrible doom. This young woman is a marionette of the gods, strings tight, she is pulled from here to there and she falls only when they break.
Divine law can be defined as a rule coming directly from the gods. According to Greek mythology, each god is believed to possess unique powers that can either help or hinder the lives of mortals. Their role in the lives of humans is illustrated in Antigone with her death. Sophocles emphasizes in Antigone that the gods’ will is carried out by people and that fate takes control of all life. Sophocles' Antigone seals her fate when she buries her brother. Her decision is not one of free will, but one of divine direction. I think that this civil disobedience is a tool of the gods to govern the earth. Antigone, from the moment from the declaration, is destined to die because it is her fate and her duty to bury her brother. Under the idea of free will she would have been able to save herself by not completing the task, but because of the will of the gods she has no choice but to properly honor her fallen sibling. Antigone is doomed from the moment she is born, her acts of civil disobedience are just the strings the gods use to manipulate their puppet.
In a sense, fate is just a word that means the road leads to death. All of us are going to die sooner or later, Antigone was destined to die early. The will of the gods can't be changed. Fate is just like the lottery. No one knows what is going to happen and if anything good is going to come of it. And this we as a people have to accept. Antigone didn't know what was going to happen in her life and she had no control over it.
I am sooo frustrated with this and I don't know what else to say!: