Fate in Antigone, Beowulf, and the World

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The concept of fate in the lives of men and woman is something that has been around for as long as history has been recorded. However it feels like fate works better as a tool for writers through the ages, than as a way to know the true path of people’s lives. Religion is something that has been interwoven with fate, however the concept can be too easily manipulated in the world for it to tell the story of an entire life. In the end, the only thing that all men and women are fated to do is die, and even that is not determined until the day that it happens.

In the two epics, Antigone and Beowulf, fate plays a major part in determining the events that happen to the two main roles of these stories, Antigone and Beowulf respectfully. They both go along with their actions, knowing that it is fate that has determined they must act in this manner, and that fate itself will determine whether they will succeed or fail. In both cases, even when they feel death will find them if they proceed on their current actions, they continue to move forward towards what they believe is their fated end. Overall these stories follow the fate of both Beowulf and Antigone, and their journey to the end.

At the start of Antigone, the new king Creon has declared the law that while Antigone’s brother Eteocles will be buried with honor for his defense of Thebes, however the other brother, Polynices will be left to rot in the field of battle for helping lead the siege of the city. Antigone discusses with her sister Ismene that she shall go and pay respects to her now dead brother, and give him the burial that she feels that he deserves. Her sister tries to persuade her otherwise, but Antigone claims she is going to follow her determined fate, not the law of ...

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... in check. For example, during the Crusades, priests of the church claimed that if you were willing to serve in God’s army and slay Muslims in the Holy Land, you would guarteen you and your family’s way to heaven, possible changing your fate and God’s will for you. How is it that men can determine the will of a being, who’s purpose is to determine the fate of men in the first place. It’s a situation that places the concept of fate in a more negative, and less glorious light than the epics of our class.

In the end however, fate has a way of getting involved with present people, and stories of a distant past. They can help tell great stories of people who performed great deeds as part of their fated life, however when it comes to the world we truly live in, perhaps something that tells a good story isn’t always the best way to have one’s entire future determined.

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