Antigone-fate vs. free wll
Discuss the conflict between fate and destiny on one hand and free will on the other. Which dominates? How does each character grapple with their limited free will? **Use text evidence to support your response.
posted by K.Dawson | 8:34 AM
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In the time of ancient Greece, people believed in having a fate predetermined by the gods. However, many of the characters in Antigone try to fight their fates. Antigone and Ismene seemed to be destined to shame because of their family. Their father killed his father and married his mother, and when they found that out Oedipus put out his eyes and his mother killed herself. The two brothers then fought for control of the city and killed each other. By then their family was ostracized and the two sisters living didn't seem to have any friends. Ismene buckled and was obedient to the ruler Creon even when she didn't agree. Antigone, on the other hand, fought for what she believed in when she went against Creon's decree and performed the ceremonial rites over her brother's body. When Ismene said she is "too weak to contend with the state" Antigone was angry that she would not stand up to Creon with her because Antigone couldn't understand why she would put safety before what is right. At first, Creon doesn't seem to have any limits to his free will and exercises it often. Then when Antigone defied him Creon saw that his will is not absolute. Again when he argued with Haemon Creon realized he is not as powerful as he thought and it seemed his free will has been limited for the first time. Overall free will dominates because the plot is based around a battle of wills between Antigone and Haemon and Creon. All three value their freedom and are fighting to break free from their destiny.
Antigone believes strongly in free will, but does that mean it is not her destiny to go against what is predetermined? she may just be fulfilling her destiny, because no one says that her destiny is to be obedient and appropriate, quite the contrary. Someone like her would make it seem that her destiny would be to change the world, or at least challenge the predetermined ideas about women and their roles in ancient Greek society. Creon, however, appears to follow his own ideas, regardless of others passions or ideals. He attacks and blatantly disrespects Antigone without any regard to her ideals, caring about only his own power, and his own personal gain.
Today kids growing up are told that they can become anything they want and that they shape their own destiny. In ancient mythological Greece it is much different. People believed that they had a destiny that was carved in stone and couldn’t be altered. Free will is almost not existent. It doesn’t matter if you are born into royalty or into an average society. People still believe they have a destiny.
People like Ismene don’t even know what free will is. On page three Ismene says, “We must remember that we are women born, unapt to cope with men.” She just thinks that this is her life. She will always be in the shadows of men and will never be succeed them. Antigone on the other hand shapes her destiny. She uses that little free will that she has to challenge Creon and bury her brother. Eventually Ismene follows her sister after she realizes there would not be anybody left without her. On page twenty-one Ismene says, “And what care would I have for life if I lost you?” Ismene realizes her destiny without her sister and discovers her free will and uses it to shape her own course.
The story of Antigone is an ironic, twisting story about the fate of a young woman who wishes only to honor her family. In Ancient Greece, the majority believed that the Olympian Gods were rulers of all and controlled their lives, therefore controlling their destinies. However, the unpredictable characters of Antigone will not lay down without a fight. "Do not spend fear on me" Antigone says, "shape your own course." Antigone, the main character, is characterized by a fiery passion and sense of free will that challenges even the most powerful opponents, such as Creon. Fate may play a large part in the characters' lives, but ultimately free will dominates. One such as Ismene, who accepts her fate without conflict at first, who is "born to feeble to contend against the state." She refuses Antigone and her mad plot, preffering to stay safely on the sidelines. But later on in the book, we see her change, as she stands by her sister to share the fate that Creon sets with them. Free will is also important when we examine Creon, a character who wants to control anything and everything. He considers himself superior, all-powerful, the master of any who oppose him. He is rude, spiteful, prideful; his will is what creates the story of Antigone. "No woman, while I live, shall order me." Gender plays a huge role in Creon's judgement against Antigone, as he hates her even more because of the fact she was born female. In Ancient Greece, men dominated the women, and those few women who stood up for their rights were quickly disposed of. We can see this in Antigone, she opposes Creon, openly attacks him, in a world where she has no rights or power. Haemon, the son of Creon, is a character who shows his free will as opposition of his father. Haemon, at first, on pages 25 and 26, accepts the judgement his father lays on Antigone. However, Haemon will not stand down and let his destiny rule him. "Because I see you sinning against rights." Haemon says on page 29, where a furious debate ensues between father and son. As we can see with these four characters, Antigone, Ismene, Creon, and Haemon, free will is what shapes this tragic tale.
In ancient Greece, there really wasn't much free will. Your fate and destiny were determined by the Gods and you could be told your's from an omen. Although people tried going against theirs so it wouldn't happen, it usually couldn't be stopped. In "Antigone," Sophocles shows how free will and fate can shapes ones identity through its various ways. Although this all is true, in this book free will seems to over power fate. Everyone in this book has their opinion and if this wasn't present, the story wouldn't ever of happened. Fate does tie into it all but their will seems to dominate. Ismene shows her feelings in the prologue. She tells Antigone, "You desire impossibilities...things impossible 'tis wrong to attempt at all." She says this when Antigone is saying that she is going to go against the throne to bury her dear brother. She is going for what she believes in, staying out of it. Although later on Ismene wishes to side with Antigone, she only does it for she is afraid of what may happen to her if she doesn't take sides. So she is going with her will by doing what people want her to do because her will is just to not be harmed. Creon demonstrates his feelings when he does what he wants to do by going against the God’s and leaving his nephew to be eaten and decay. He says to the senator, “No man shall bury, none should wail for him; Unsepulchred, shamed in the eyes of men, His body should be left to be devoured By dogs and fowls of the air. Such is my will.” He is clearly going with his free will because he doesn’t want to do as the Gods want. Which is to be buried. He wants to leave the body to decay. Lastly, Antigone was going with her will when she wants to bury her brother not because of the God’s but because it is what she believes is morally right. Doing so, she is going against her throne. This is how free will really dominates in the conflict between fate and free will.
In the drama "Antigone" one's fate and destiny is conquered over by the will they persevere. In Ancient Greece roles that people possessed in their lives were determind for them, by the Gods. Women were expected to carry out on certian duties and men the same. The lives of those living in Ancient Greece were contrived for them. In most circumstances, your destiny and fate is irrpressible.But in the story of Antigone, that reality is altered. The unforeseeable character Antigone tells Ismene "Do not spend fear on me," and "Shape your own course." Initially in Ancient Greece being a woman is looked down apon. You are not expected for much, and are not respected as much as men in any way. Antigone, with the determination and will of a hero, goes against the orders of Creon, to fufull her desires to bury her dead brother. Her fate was to let the orders of Creon take control and accept that her brother will not get a respectable burial, but her will was to do what she believed SHOULD happen. Although fate is a very important and accurate happening in one's life, the free will that is obtained is very capable of conflicting with ones fate changing it.
Ismene, the one who follows all of the rules, and accepts her role as a woman, has a suprising twist with her character. Ismeme was always watching from the outside, and claimed to be "born too feeble to contend against the state," has a moment of true self identity when the chance of Antigone being killed for actions actually came into being. Ismeme told Creon she had part in trying to bury her brother with Antigone, and to kill her as well. Her desitny of being completely alone if Antigone died, was conflicted with her will of lying to Creon and taking the blame with Antigone.
Haemon, expected to agree and accede with Creon, although he did at one point, stood up for what he believed in, which conflicted with the destiny that was shaped for him if Antigone was killed. On pages 25-26 in the book, it seems to be Haemon is completely agreeing with Creon, with his desicion. Creon filled with greed,and arrogance, and expected to be agreed with at all times, has his own son stand up to him. Haemon stating, "Die as she may, she shall not die alone." Creon using his anger and excessive pride when expressing his deliberation is soon collided with the patient, and repsectful Haemon. Haemon was attempting to change his fate by using his will and power to stand up against his father for Antigone and himselves' love.
Fate and destiny, is most cases can be unchangable. The happenings in your life can not be affected or alternated. But in the story of "Antigone" there were stances where the character, completely went against their own destiny and stoof up for what they believed in. One may think destiny and fate is set and stone, but once one's will begins to uprise, a conflict is between both is created.
In Ancient Greece many members of nobility went to see Oracles to learn their destiny. Antigone's father, Oedipus was taken to such an Oracle as a young child, and his parents learned his terrible fate to kill his father and marry his mother. Although Oedipus's fate had already been prophesized, his parents insisted they had the free will to avoid this fate. They decided to throw him out into the mountains and the wolves, thinking that his death there would be certain. Jocasta and her husband thought that they had free will in making this decision and free will to avoid their son's terrible destiny. Their decisions to try their best to avoid Oedipus' fate did use free will, but Oedipus' fate still happened just the way the Oracle foretold. Many times in the Ancient Greek myths heroes will try to avoid their destinies. They do this by exercising free will. Their destinies get fulfilled anyways. Do destinies get fulfilled as a result the hero trying to avoid them? Would the destinies have happened if nothing had been done to avoid them? Would Oedipus really have killed his father and married his mother if he had grown up around them? Does exercising free will cause destinies to be determined?
Antigone shows more free will than her sister Ismene. Ismene accepts her destiny without resistence. She follows what Creon orders, and accepts that "we must remember that we are women born, unapt to cope with men." Ismene accepts that she will always be inferior to men. She accepts that this will be her destiny. Antigone shows more free will than her sister. She fights her destiny, but, as in many cases in Greek Mythology, this could make no change to her final destiny. Fighting one's destiny often makes it more likely for one's destiny to fulfill itself. Destiny prevails throughout Ancient Greece, including in the play "Antigone."
The conflict that consistently appears in Sophocles’ play Antigone is fate versus free will. For the majority of the Greeks, questioning one’s predetermined future is a foreign concept. For centuries, people have blindly gone about their lives experiencing both tragedy and joy, not realizing nor having the courage, to change their course. Antigone’s sister, Ismene, is a perfect example of this. Despite the fact that her brother’s body had been left out to rot, without so much as a prayer said in his name, she refused to do anything to change the matter. To her, that was his fate, and if she did anything about it her fate would be death. “I was born too feeble to contend against the state” were her exact words to Antigone when asked to help bury the body. She also points out that “we are women born, unapt to cope with men.” On the other hand, Antigone is trying her best to improve her brother’s fate by burying him and therefore following her free will. As much as I’d like to report that Antigone gets away with the crime, fate takes another stab at her when she is caught in the act. In the end, destiny dominates when she is sentenced to death. When Ismene hears the news she realizes that without her sister she is destined to be alone for the rest of her life. In order to avoid this fate, she uses her free will to plead guilty to King Creon. “Yes, I have done it-if Antigone says so- I join with her to share the blame……And what care I for life, if I lost you?” However, fate dominates again when Creon sees through her lies and lets her live. As you can see, each character grapples with their limited free will in different ways. Antigone decides to seize the opportunity in order to save her brother, whereas Ismene’s last minute epiphany causes her to go against her fate in order to be with her sister. But, in the end fate conquers all and the characters are left on the paths that were paved by their first decisions.
In our lives as of now we are told we can be anything we want to try for. People tell us to try to do what is right and to decide what we will do with our lives. In ancient Greece, though, the expectations are the exact opposite. Women are expected to be less than men. And Ismene says it as straight-forward as she could. "We must remember we are women born, Unable to cope with men; and, being ruled by mightier than ourselves." She is clearly say that any women is destined to be treated worse than men are. Antigone is trying to contradict the way people think of women. She tries to go against the laws and give her brother a rightful burial, but she is caught and sentenced to death. Antigone opposed her destiny and has succeeded in changing it for the bettor or for the worse we do not yet known. Ismene does not show any attempt in trying to change her destiny except a horrible attempt of saying she helped Antigone with giving the brother a proper burial. Creon could see through her lies and let her live alone for the rest of her life. I would have to say that free-will is more evident in this book because Antigone; the main character shows it and I would think others would follow in her footsteps; just like Ismene tried to do. Haemon also shows free-will because he was first on Creons side but then decide by himself that he doesn't agree with his fathers ways.
In ancient Greece, free will was hard to find. Ancient Greeks believed that what you were destined for was bound to happen, there was no such thing of controlling your destiny, or taking a different path. Antigone believes in free will and wants to defeat her destiny, as for Ismene, she is more obedient and respects her destiny. In the play Ismene says, "we must remember that we are women born, unapt to cope with men," proving that she is not willing to go up against Creon, she refuses to try make her voice heard, as she sees it doesn't have importance. Antigone wants to go up against Creon and stand up for her brother by giving him a proper burial. Overall, free will dominates destiny because when you want something to happen, like giving your brother a proper burial, and you have the courage to make it happen, you will. Your destiny doesn't necessarily HAVE to happen, especially when you use your free will and power to go against it. Thus, your free will can control if what you want to happen, happens or not. Destiny, on the other hand, doesn't have to happen and it is preventable.
In Ancient Greece people commonly believed in fate and that people couldn't change what was destined to happened. It seems that Antigone's and Ismene's fate was predetermined by the gods because of the family that they belonged to. Their fathers fate was already determined by an oracle that told him his future. But Antigone thinks that she can change her course and do what she wants to do. While not being interfered by any outside force like the gods. But Ismene seems like she can't do anything about what is going to happen to her so she acts much more like what the Ancient Greeces were used to seeing. Her most revealing quote is when she says "I was born too feeble to contend against the state" This says a lot about her thinking because even when her brother is laying unburied gettin humiliated by Creon. She still doesn't stand up to the goverment because she thinks that all this was predetermined by Zeus and the other gods on Mt. Olympus. But of course Antigone belives she can change the results of the situation. The two sisters totally opposite views on what they can influence in their lives.
In the United States man and women are given the opportunity to choose what they want to do in live. However, still in today's world not everyone on the plant has free will. Many men and women have prearranged marriages, women are not allowed to show their faces in public, and a man's parent's choose what profession their son is going to have as a career as an adult. In the story "Antigone" the belief is to follow one's destiny and there is no free will, however, Antigone shows free will and rebels against the King, Creon, by preforming a burial ceremony that Creon forbid, on her brother Pelinecise. Like Morgan pointed out, rebelling may be Antigone's destiny and there really is not such thing as free will, everything was meant to be. Ismene, Antigone's sister is the exact opposite of Antigone and is loyal to Creon. Antigone becomes very enraged at her sister and says, "Tell it, tell it ! You'll cross me worse, by far, if you keep silence-Not publish it to all." Creon is a very selfless character in this story and believes that taking power of Thebes is his destiny and nothing can stop him, because it is destiny. Even his son can not change his mind about killing Antigone, Haemon's wife to be, because Creon has to do the "right thing" in order to keep his control as king.
Free will was not something that one from ancient Greece stumbled upon. Most of what happened was destined. Everyone’s lives were already planned out by the gods and they knew what their purpose in life was. Antigone is a strong free-spirited woman, which was very unusual to find during the time period. Women were considered less then the men. “We must remember we are women born, unapt to cope with men;” Antigone’s sister, Ismene, could be called weak to some but to others she is just doing as the law tells her to. Antigone will not let fate and the law tell her what she can or cannot do. She follows her own morals. Creon, the king of Thebes, is just like Antigone. He is driven and very power hungry. He will take anyone down, even his own son, to climb to the top and have ultimate power. When Antigone and Ismene’s brothers die, “each on his own head by the other’s hand” and only one of them gets a burial, Antigone is outraged. She takes her free will and decides to bury her outcasted brother. Ismene refuses to help. But after the deed is done and Creon is about to decide Antigones life or death fate, Ismene steps in to say “I have done it- if Antigone says so- I join with her to share the blame.” Now both Antigone and Ismene are destined to die. Will their free will dominate in this scenario or is fate destined?
The only person who could possibly change Creon’s strong opinion is his son Haemon. Haemon and Antigone are engaged but with this sudden change, her future could be “her marriage-bed.” Haemon is controlled by his father and lives to please him. At first Haemon states “there is no marriage shall occupy a larger place with me than your direction.” But as their heated conversation continues and Creon threatens Antigone’s life even more, Haemon makes it very clear that “she shall not die alone.” Free will is not common. In a time and place where destiny and law rules all, what will happen when a few people test themselves against fate and try their hand at free will?
Fate or destiny is a predetermined outcome, whilst free will is the act of making choices as a free being. There is great conflict between the two and the characters of the story of Antigone as they endeavor to craft their own free choices around a predestined future. You can tell early on that destiny has a large impact on the characters. Oedipus, Antigone’s father had a fate to one day kill his father and then marry his mother. Although many free will choices were made to prevent the fate from becoming reality, such as Oedipus’ parents getting rid of him, it was still destined to happen. The decisions of his parents backfired and all that had been prearranged became actuality. Antigone’s brothers also had a fate, to destroy each other. Both died in the other’s hand fighting over authority after the passing away of their father.
The people of Greece believed in fate and not many thought much of free will other than using it to attempt to change their destinies. Most citizens of Greece, especially women had no access to free will and had no say or power in their society. Antigone, on the other hand, broke out and broke the law by burying her dead brother Polynieces. When questioned she admitted to the burial proudly. Creon, the king was very much like Antigone in the fact that he was also extremely outspoken. He created rules that were against the many morals of the Greek gods. He uses free will to make decisions such as killing Antigone.
Although free choices are significant, such as Ismene choosing to admit to Antigone’s crime, fate is responsible for the most critical events in the story. Therefore free will dominates because although the character’s all make their own choices they can not be blamed for their own destinies because their outcomes have already been determined by something greater than themselves. Even though all the characters have free will, some more than others, fate will always win because no matter what choices are made fate will always over rule.
In acient Greece, the people believed their destiny and fate was predetermined at birth by the gods. People couldn't create their own path in life, they were told what was going to happen.Ismene told Antigone "but you desire impossibilities," Ismene was pessimisstic and accepted her fate and never wanted to change it. Although Antigone wanted to fight for her family and change her life path. Free will wasn't something that people in ancient Greece experience. Antigone believes that Creon is disrepecting her family by not allowing a burial for her fallen brother and she is determined to change that even if that means early death for her. Ismene is allowing her destiny to unfold but on the other hand Antigone wants to change her destiny in order to get her way.
I agree with many of my fellow classmates about the fact that in ancient Greece many people believed that there was no such thing as free will and fate determined everyone's destiny. In ancient Greece people had limited rights too. For example, woman had much less rights than men they had barely any say in anything and that already limits a lot of their free will and forces them to just follow their fate. However, in the play Antigone and the synopsis we read about Oedipus I've found that free-will and fate are basically split half in half. Oedipus believed in free will greatly because of how he tried to run away form his parents and everything just so that he wouldn't kill his dad and marry his mom even though he ended up killing his dad and marrying his mother anyway. In Antigone Ismene follows her fate just like everyone else in ancient Greece. She understands that woman aren't meant to break laws and speak out about things they don’t believe in. A quote that helps support this would be "You are mad! When Creon has forbidden it?" This quote explains how Ismene likes to follow the rules and her fate because she basically says that its wrong to disobey Creon's laws and you can't try to speak out against anything because it will only bring upon worse things for you. Antigone, on the other hand, follows free will much more than fate. When Antigone states "From mine own He has no right to stay me," she shows that she doesn’t care about the laws and would rather follow her free will than her fate. Creon is confusing to determine whether he follows his fate or free will but after looking through my book and reading more of my classmates comments I have finally determined that he follows what he thinks his destiny is of taking control of all of Thebes. He feels that he’s going to be the greatest ruler and all of his rules are perfect. Lastly, Haemon at first seemed like he followed his fate when he was talking to his father (Creon) and said “Yours am I, father; and you guide my steps with your good counsels, which for my part I will follow closely.” this statement explains that Haemon was following his fate and the laws (was loyal to his father) however, at the end of the conversation Haemon started to show that he followed free will. This is shown through the quote “You shall not find me serving what is vile,” which explains how Haemon doesn’t agree with all of his dad’s policies and his fate which means he follows free will and furthermore, proves that in Antigone free will dominates fate/destiny greatly. Clearly, free will dominates fate in Antigone but in all of Ancient Greece fate dominates free will!
In ancient Greece, it was believed that your fate was predetermined by the gods. There was no such thing as free will, and everyone had his or her own destiny. In Antigone, free will dominates over fate. Antigone’s free will compels her to bury Polynices when Creon has made it illegal to do so. Because of Antigone’s loyalty to her family, her free will takes over the fate, and leads her straight into the hands of her fiancé’s father, otherwise known as Creon, the king of Thebes. Creon believes that it is his destiny to become king and to put Antigone to death. Because of this Creon is hubris and very gender discriminate. “Better be outcast, if we must, of men, then said a woman worsted us,” says Creon. Creon’s free will thinks that by not putting Antigone to death Antigone will be saw from the citizens of Thebes as ordering Creon around, and “No woman, while I live, shall order me.” Creon looks down on woman and thinks that their rightful place in the world is being ordered around by men in a subordinate rank. Creon believes that when Antigone is sentenced to death she will learn “it is a lost labour to revere the dead.” Ismene on the other hand does not follow her free will. She believes that her fate is already determined by her and her destiny is to stay in a subordinate rank to men. “We must remember we are women born, unable to cope with men.” Ismene says this to Antigone, and she strongly believes it; but in the middle of the story, Ismene realizes that when Antigone dies because of the crime she committed Ismene will be the only one left of her family and she will have no one to lean on for support. Because Ismene has no backbone to support her she does not follow her free will, and so she goes to support Antigone and tries to take some of the blame. Haemon has very mixed feelings on what is going on and he has not discovered whether he should go with his free will or fate. When first hearing about Antigone’s fate he sides with his father saying “for there is no marriage shall occupy a larger place with me than your direction, in the path of honour.” However, later in the story he says, “Die as she may, she shall not die alone.” Haemon’s love for Antigone is getting in the way of his choosing between free will and fate. With the love, he will continue with his free will, but it may get in the way of his true intentions and Haemon’s loyalty to his father.
In the ancient Greek times fate and destiny is already determind for you. Edipus tried his best not to kill his father and marry his mother, but he still did. Fate was going to happen no matter what he did. Now we are taught to follow our dreams and be whoever we want to be. We are taught free will is more powerful. I believe that fate and destiny are more dominate then free will because we can not control everything that happens in life no matter how hard we try. The good and bad things that happen in life are out of our control therefore it is fate and destiny. However fate and free will work together. After free will then comes fate. For example Antigone used her free will to go and give her brother a burial. Her fate was to get caught and brought to King Creon. There Haemon used his free will to die with her and we do not know what their destiny will be. People use their free will to do something and then after they are faced with their destiny in this case it Antigone's destiny was bad but in other cases it could be great destiny.
In ancient greece many people believed that ones destiny was pre-decided. people would go to oracles to see wha their future would hold. According to the background of this story, fate has a very strange way of creeping into your life. An oracle told the King and Queen of Thebes that their child would kill his father and marry his mother. Although the newborn was left in the mountains to die, fate made it's way in and the baby was save and brought to a neighboring city, where he became a soldier eventualy killing his father in battle and marying his mother. This could be certainly be percieved as fate and under the circumstances, it could definitely seem that nothing could hide from fate.
Antigone, thinks that people should change their future, and make of it what they want. Her country said that her brother could not be burried. Antigone knew that she couldnt live with herself if she left her dead brother out in the wild for animals to consume his body. She decided to go against authority risking the consequence of death even if it was against her fate.
What causes Ismene's change of heart? Is it genuine or selfish? Why does her point of view change in such a short time period?
What caused the sudden change of Haemon's agreement with his father about Antigone's sentence to death? Would he truly die with her as he claims he would?
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