Fate and Destiny in The Iliad
The Iliad portrays fate and destiny as supreme and ultimate forces. The Iliad presents the question of who or what is finally responsible for a man's destiny, yet the answers to this question are not quite clear. In many instances, it seems that man has no control over his fate and destiny, but at other points, it seems as if a man's fate lies in the consequences of his actions and decisions. Therefore, The Iliad reveals a man sometimes controls his destiny.
In The Iliad the god's fate is controlled much in the same way as a mortal's, except for one major difference, the immortals cannot die and therefore do not have a destiny. Immortal's lives may not be judged because they have not and will not die. The gods are able to manipulate mortal's fate but not their own directly. In Book I, the plague is a result of the upsetting of Apollo. The gods produce situations over trivial things, such as forgetting a sacrifice or, in this case, insulting Chryses. The gods have temper tantrums, and they switch sides quickly and without consideration. One day they protect the Achaeans, the nextt day the Trojans. The gods play favorites with no sense at all of any of the moral or political issues involved in the war. Zeus does what he can, but the others behave as though they were better than all the rest, in more ways than one. They have no compassion for their own kind, and their concern for man is even less. Occasionally, the gods will show concern for one of their favorites when he is having a bad time, but it is very rare. This attitude is the result of their own vindictiveness against humanity and man's own tendency to irrational behavior or carelessness in worshipping the gods. But more often than not, men find themselves fighting a force beyond their control.
The opening statement of The Iliad contains the phrase "the will of Zeus," and this reflects the Greek's belief that man is in the grip of forces that he cannot control. It is also another way of saying that all things are fated and out of the hands of man. Book XXII shows that the gods control the fates of man:
But once they reached the springs for the fourth time,
1760 - George III came to the throne, he was proud of his country and
God is seen as the uncaused cause who is the cause of all the other
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.
Free will on the other hand is not engineered. It speaks to the concept of having full authority over one's aspirations and ultimate direction. The key there is "ultimate." The gods can make up the plan and choose the path, but the people had to walk it. Therefore, fate and free will are not mutually exclusive and they both go on throughout The Odyssey.
The question has been raised as to whether Oedipus was a victim of fate or of his own actions. This essay will show that Oedipus was a victim of fate, but he was no puppet because he freely and actively sought his doom, although he was warned many times of the inevitable repercussions of his actions.
Destiny in Gilgamesh and The Iliad Stories do not need to inform us of things. From Gilgamesh for example, we know that some of the people who lived in the land between the Tigris and Euphates rivers in the second and third milleniums BCE. We know they celabrated a king named Gilgamesh; we know they believed in many gods; we know they were self- -consious of their own cultivation of the natural world; and we know they were literate. In the story, The Iliad we also know that great rulers and gods ruled and where top priority of the lands. Point being it can be argued that the story of Gil- -gamesh and the Iliad destiny's are quite the same in relivence of the wars and the way's of life both of the story's complete to meaningful death. In hand which comtr- -ibutes to both of the epics. In the story of Gilgamesh, it is important to look careful what happened in the story; that is , look at it as if the actions and people it describes actually took place or existed. The questions raised by a character's actions discuss the implic- -ations of their consequences. But it's not to consider how the story is put together rather how it uses the conventions of language, of events with beginings and endings of description of character and storytelling itself to reawaken our sensitivity to the real world. The real world is the world without conventions, the unnameable, unrep- resentable world--in it's continuity of action, it's shadings and blurrings of character its indecipherable patterns of being. The Iliad and Gilgamesh story's is greatly a remminder of the way life is today; just different in time but neitherless to say similar
The world may never know if we have power to control our ultimate destinies or not. However, it is clear in Oedipus the King and The Epic of Gilgamesh that free will does not exist. Oedipus and Gilgamesh are puppets being controlled by the gods above, helpless to exercise free will. No matter what course they take, Oedipus cannot escape from killing his father and marry his mother and Gilgamesh cannot escape death. Nevertheless, their fears cause them to try to manipulate their actions and stop their fates from occurring. It is only a matter of time before these two characters fail in their attempts and realize that trying to control destiny is futile.
Gods in The Odyssey often use prophecy to inform mortal characters of their fates. Once a mortal character is aware of his fate, he is responsible for accepting and fulfilling it, or otherwise facing punishment for his failure to obey the gods. One such example is Odysseus’ failure to execute Circe’s prophecy not to fight Scylla in order to save his shipmates, which results in his loss of six of his best men. Odysseus’ responsibility here for his men’s deaths at the hands of Scylla implores the reader to question Odysseus’ ability to lead his men. In another example, however, Odysseus’ shipmates fail to execute Tiresias’ prophecy as relayed to them by Odysseus, for which Zeus kills them all at sea. Their responsibility for their own deaths
Throughout Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, gods are presented as remarkably human in almost every way. While it is assumed that gods are divine entities incapable of human transgression, they are portrayed with all the flaws of mortals in The Iliad. The gods are a manifestation of human emotions consequently helping to explain the behavior of the humans in The Iliad. The actions of the heroes are what determine their fate, not divine intervention. Ultimately, the humans in The Iliad have inherent characteristics that provide the driving force behind their actions: the gods simply act in concert with them, allowing the human beings to exercise free will of
In the stories/plays and poems of Gilgamesh, Oedipus the King and Achilles in the Iliad, there are three main heroes who have their fate decided for them by the Gods. Each hero has had fate placed on them according to the god’s, however as fate is understood there is also the idea of free will. Gilgamesh is two-thirds god and one-third man, who feels as though he has no equal, Gilgamesh feels superior to all men until he meets Enkidu, a creation sent to stop Gilgamesh from his reckless and wild ways. Oedipus is the king of Thebes and his fate was prophecies by the blind soothsayer Tiresias in which he was to kill his father and marry his mother. In the poem the Iliad, Achilles was the hero that would win the war with Troy, the prophet Calchas predicted that Achilles would die at an early age. In all of the epics, each character had a destiny to full filled, blessed with extra ordinary powers and abilities, each had the a...
One of the most compelling topics The Iliad raises is that of the intricate affiliations between fate, man and the gods. Many events related by Homer in his epic poem exhibit how these three connections interweave and eventually determine the very lives of the men and women involved in the war. Homer leaves these complex relationships slightly unclear throughout the epic, never spelling out the exact bonds connecting men's fate to the gods and what can be considered the power of fate. The motivation for the ambiguousness present in The Iliad is not easily understood, but it is a question that enriches and helps weave an even greater significance of the results into Homer's masterpiece. I feel that the interaction between man, god, and fate can be shown to be one great fluidity that ultimately leaves life mysterious, giving much more depth and complexity to the bonds between the three.
There are many events in our lives that leave us with one question: What is the meaning of life? This question plagued Achilles’ during the story of “The Iliad” and he progresses through it to accept the fact that it is not in his hands to decide his fate. “Now I shall go, to overtake that killer of a dear life, Hektor; then I will accept my own death, at whatever time Zeus wishes to bring it about, and the other immortals.” Having brought this doom upon himself out of his own need for gratification early in the poem, Achilles’ finally accepts, humbly that his actions have been the cause of his grief and loss over his dear companion, Partoklos. It is through his continual refusal to partake in his destiny that he brings his doom upon himself. It is one of the greatest sins one can commit, to deny the world of your gifts. It is impossible for us to control our fate, the gods (speaking in Ancient Greek terms) control our lives as they see fit and by reading this poem, it is possible to come to a deeper understanding of how we must accept it.
In the books The Iliad, The Odyssey, and Gilgamesh there is a recurring theme. This theme is the supernaturals and how they have the ability to fluctuate and affect our lives in dramatic and life changing ways. The thesis topic of the supernaturals and the thematic message of anything can happen are both related because the gods are able affect anything and everything. In the Iliad the gods drastically affect the Trojan War by prolonging it because they will do whatever they can to make their specific side win. In the Odyssey the gods also affect Odysseus journey because they allow him to leave the island of calypso where he was being held captive. The gods also affect Odysseus journey because Hera helps him out in big turning points in
An interesting and important aspect of this Greek notion of fate is the utter helplessness of the human players. No matter the choice made by the people involved in this tragedy, the gods have determined it and it is going to come to pass. T...
The Iliad is a classic epic poem written by Homer about the Trojan War and the rage of an Achaean warrior, Achilles. The book introduces the reader to the war and the personal battle between Achilles and King Agamemnon; because of this argument between these two major characters, Homer introduces the role of the gods when Achilles asks his mother, Thetis, to go to Zeus and beg for his interference on Achilles’ behalf. The major role the gods play in the Iliad is their interference in the Trojan War as immortal versus immortal and mortal versus immortal.