Inevitability Of Fate In Oedipus The Seagull

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Fate has commonly been perceived by humans as an immaterial but also binding “plan.” Fate is, “a power that is believed to control what happens in the future,” and is also commonly regarded as being inescapable (Fate 1). The ancient greeks built up this modern idea of fate. The Moirae in greek mythology were the gods which decided everybodies fate. They were split up into three different gods, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Clotho spun the thread of life when women were in the ninth month of pregnancy to decide the child’s fate. Lachesis would then measure the thread of life given to each person, and Atropos would cut the thread of life, deciding when each persons life would end. In greek, atropos literally translates to “inevitable.” This …show more content…

This is strongly expressed in Oedipus the King, were Oedipus believes he can outrun fate by leaving to Thebes, but by going to Thebes, he is just following his fate which has already been laid out to him. The Seagull also strongly expresses the inevitability to escape fate much like Oedipus the King does. Anton Chekhov's The Seagull displays the parallelism between the young and old generation and how their choices will ultimately all lead to failed ambitions. The foreshadowing and the imagery of various characters display similarities in both generations choices and lives. The character imagery between Masha and Polina, Nina and Arkadina, and Kostya and Sorin reveals similarities between both of their lives in the present, as well as it foreshadows their future. Which are all foreshadowed or implied through parallelism to become, or continue to be a wretched …show more content…

The Seagull. St. Petersburg, 1896. Gutenberg. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1754/1754-h/1754-h.htm>.
Curtis, Jim. "The Seagull: Overview." Reference Guide to World Literature. Ed. Lesley Henderson. 2nd ed. New York: St. James Press, 1995. Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 Feb. 2014.
David, and Sharon Hoffman. "Beyond Fate: When Bad Things Happen to Good People." Parabola Vol. XXV, No. 4. Winter 2000: 20-27. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 04 Apr. 2014.
"Fate." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fate>.
Rozik, Eli. "The Interpretative Function of the 'Seagull' Motif in The Seagull." Assaph: Studies in the Theatre 4 (1988): 55-81. Rpt. in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Trudeau. Vol. 163. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 23 Feb.

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