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Rise of odysseus
Rise of odysseus
The aeneid and the theme of fate essay
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When discussing the fate of Aeneas, a thought provoking question is posed that is commonly debated. If Aeneas is commanded by fate, does he have free will? It is important to approach this question with a solid understand of fate. There are two common sides to the debate of whether Aeneas had free will or not. One view believes Aeneas had no choice but to follow his destiny because he was commanded by fate, and prophesied to found the race that will one day build Rome. The other side states Aeneas did indeed have free will, and even though his fate was set, room is available within his fate for events to change. One can argue Aeneas makes some of his own choices, but no particular detail of his life is untouched. Destiny determines that the Trojans will found a city in Italy, but it does not stipulate how that will happen. This is where room is left for free will. After much research and considering the views of many commentators and the proof they showed, the answer can simply be found by going back to the text of The Aeneid.
Camps states both sides of the free will debate in more detail. One side believes Aeneas was presented as being ordered, directed, and reminded from above through prophets and dreams. Because of this he is sometimes felt by the readers to be directed by powers outside himself, and with no character of his own. The other side states that while Aeneas is ordered by a powerful authority, he is not forced, and it is exactly the situation that his will is free and his choices his own that differentiates his circumstances from that of other characters in the story whose wills have stopped to be their own because outside forces have taken them over. Adding a little to these two sides Duckworth considers Vergil’s ...
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... 1969. Print.
Duckworth, George E. "Fate and Free Will in Virgil's ‘Aeneid.’” The Classical Journal 51.8 (1956): 357-64. JSTOR. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.
"Fate." The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Ed. Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print.
Matthaei, Louise E. “The Fates, the Gods, and the Freedom of Man's Will in the Aeneid.” The Classical Quarterly 11.1 (1917): 11-26. JSTOR. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
Tracy, H. L. "'Fata Deum' and the Action of the 'Aeneid'" Greece & Rome 11.2 (1964): 188-95. JSTOR. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
Virgil. The Aeneid. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin, 2008. Print.
Williams, Gordon Willis. Technique and Ideas in the Aeneid. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983. Print.
Wilson, C. H. "Jupiter and the Fates in the Aeneid." The Classical Quarterly 29.2 (1979): 361-71. JSTOR. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
The idea that one’s destiny is already determined is both comforting yet brings dismay because it leaves a feeling of powerlessness which is fine for the lazy but painful for the proactive. This idea is surely a failure among principles but even so the role of fate is not completely limited to these terms and ideas. Fate in the book was seen more as a mission that Aeneas had in life, and it would only happen on his obedience to his tasks. This type of belief that “actions determine fate” is actually quite healthy for a society to follow. During Aeneas’ journey there were several times that he faced difficult temptations that tested his obedience
Since the beginning of time, man has clung to the notion that there exists some external force that determines his destiny. In Grecian times, the epic poet Hesoid wrote of a triumvirate of mythological Fates that supposedly gave "to men at birth evil and good to have". In other words, these three granted man his destiny. Clotho "spun the thread of life", Lacheis distributed the lots, and Atropos with his "abhorred shears" would "cut the thread at death"(Hamilton-43). All efforts to avoid the Fates were in vain. In every case their sentence would eventually be delivered. And it appears that once the Fates' ballot had been cast, the characters in Greek myths had no chance for redemption. One must wonder if man, like the Greeks portrayed, has any real choice in determining how he lives.
Long, A.A. & Sedley D.N. The Hellenistic Philosophers. Trans. Long & Sedley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
In Virgil’s The Aeneid, a Trojan man, named Aeneas, flees Troy after its destruction at the hands of the Greeks. Aeneas is destined to sail to Italy and found Rome, along with his companions, the fellow surviving Trojans. Despite this predetermined fate, throughout the story of The Aeneid, Aeneas seems to deal with obstacles which prevent him from making his way to Italy, and therefore prevent him from his destiny of founding Rome. Aeneas, at certain points in the narrative, is prepared to renounce his destiny and settle in places besides Italy and therefore not found Rome. Aeneas, in these moments where he strays from assigned path, seems to be displaying free will in that he is able to not complete his assigned task of founding Rome. The
Grene, D., and Lattimore, R., eds. ?Antigone? and ?Prometheus Bound.? Greek Tragedies: Volume 1. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1991. 178-232, 65-106.
... wife and home as well as his place in Carthage in the name of the gods, in the name of a quest that does not directly benefit him. From this pursuit, he does not stand to gain spoils, and the most that could be said of his fame would be drawn from his descendents. It is this moral stance, this understanding of universal placement, of purpose, that sets Aeneas apart from other heroes.
When Virgil was writing the Aeneid he gleaned his theory from Greek and Roman mythology. An example of this is Charon, the...
Being an epic story it is of no surprise the amount of supernatural interference throughout the books. Aeneas is man plagued by these powers at every turn as they propel him through the journey the Fates have deemed necessary. He is a tool of fate, following its every command towards the end result of glory and honor for himself and his descendants. He is subjected to the supernatural powers in a superstitious time with no chance of escape. Aeneas was created to be haunted by the supernatural to complete his Fate and establish Rome.
Aristotle argues that friendship is a vital part of life. It serves not only as a means to bond individuals together, but also a necessity in achieving overall happiness. Aristotle comments on the various types of friendships that exist, and the role they each play in society. He explains three overarching types; utility, pleasure, and complete friendship. Yet, with family, friendship is different than it is with companionship. As Aristotle states in his piece, Nicomachean Ethics on friendship in families, “they all seem to depend on paternal friendship” (Aristotle, 1161b18). In The Aeneid, Aeneas and Anchises’ relationship, perfectly embodies this. The father son bond does not distinctly resemble one of the three types, rather it is a friendship in of itself; a paternal friendship.
In Sophocles ' Oedipus the King, the themes of fate and free will are very strong throughout the play. Only one, however, brought about Oedipus ' downfall and death. Both points could be argued to great effect. In ancient Greece, fate was considered to be a rudimentary part of daily life. Every aspect of life depended and was based upon fate (Nagle 100). It is common belief to assume that mankind does indeed have free will and each individual can decide the outcome of his or her life. Fate and free will both decide the fate of Oedipus the King.
Virgil. “The Aeneid, Book IV”. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 974-95. Print.
Many people seem to be under the impression that the Aeneid is a celebration of Roman glory, led by the hero of fate Aeneas. I find these preconceived ideas hard to reconcile with my actual reading of the text. For starters, I have a hard time viewing Aeneas as a hero at all. Almost any other main characters in the epic, from Dido to Camilla to Turnus, have more heroic qualities than Aeneas. This is especially noteworthy because many of these characters are his enemies. In addition, Aeneas is presented as a man with no free will. He is not so much bound to duty as he is shielded by it. It offers a convenient way for hum to dodge crucial moral questions. Although this doesn’t necessarily make him a bad person, it certainly makes him a weak one. Of course some will argue that it takes greater moral conviction to ignore personal temptation and act for the good of the people. These analysts are dodging the issue just like Aeneas does. The fact is that Aeneas doesn’t just sacrifice his own personal happiness for the common good; he also sacrifices the past of the Trojan people, most notably when he dishonors the memory of his fallen city by becoming the men he hated most, the Greek invaders. The picture of Aeneas as seen in the end of the Aeneid bears some sticking resemblances to his own depiction of the savage and treacherous Greeks in the early books.
The ancient Greeks were mainly concerned with the relationship between fate and free will. This concern weaves in and out of the culture's most highly regarded literary works, including one of the earliest and most well-known texts ever written - the Odyssey. Homer's thrilling tale of King Odysseus' trials and tribulations on his homeward voyage from Ilium is littered...
Aeneas is destined to sail to Italy and find the great empire of Rome after the destruction of Troy. His fate was prophesied by Jupiter, the father of men and Gods. Jupiter reassures Venus, the mother of Aeneas, who is worried that the Trojans will get destroyed at sea. Jupiter says, “Aeneas will wage a long, costly war in Italy, crush defiant tribes and build high city walls for his people there and found the rule of Law” (1.314-317). Then two of his descendants, Romulus and Remus, will then find Rome, the mightiest empire in the world. Aeneas cannot be any more honest with Dido. The fates had deemed his to find Rome and there is no stopping him from doing so.
In English literature and Greek mythologies fate and free will played colossal responsibilities in creating the characters in the legendary stories and plays. The Greek gods believed in fate and interventions, predictions of a life of an individual before and after birth which the individual has no control over their own destiny. Free will and fate comingle together, this is where a person can choose his own fate, choose his own destiny by the choices the individual will make in their lifetime. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of free will is the “freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior cause of divine intervention”. Fate and the gods who chose their destinies directed Gilgamesh, Oedipus and Achilles.