Antigone-fate vs. free will
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 | 7:47 AM
31 Comments:
hi
hey
Free will normally dominates because fate and destiny are things that can be changed and free will is the way that you vhange it. In the book Antigone is changing her fate because she is strong and she has a lot of free will so it over powers her destiny. In the case of the book her destiny is to die because she stood up for her rights and her brothers rights. In the end Creon over powerd her and now her destiny is to die. I feel that later in the book she is going to change her fate once again by using her power and free will to show creon that no matter how powerful he thinks he is their is always someone more powerful in the world. In the case of the book it is the gods who will soon show Creon that what he did to make antigone suffer wasnt right. I think creon will die in the book because the gods are not happy with how godlike he thinks he is. So overall i think free will overpowers fate and destiny.
It depends how much power you let fate and destiny have over you. If you truly believe that you are meant to do something, you might subconsciously make yourself do it. If you don't believe in fate and denstiny you probably live life in the moment and create your own destiny. In Antigone, Antigone believes it is her destiny to bury and show respect to her brother because it is what the Gods want and she does it without giving it a second thought, and Creon believes it is his fate to rule the land. That's why when Creon's relative dies he automatically assumes he is meant to take over. Ismene on the other hand doesn't seem to believe in destiny and fate, her first priority is self preservation and making herself happy which means she chooses her own fate.
Fait is ever changing. In the beggining of the book Antigones fate was to live. she had done nothing wrong so there would be no reason for her to die or be killed. But then when her free will takes over her judgement and she goes against king creons rule and she gets caught. Her fate has changed from innocent to guilty in one action. Her destiney now is to die. By the end of the book her fate will probably change yet again. Other charecters in the book belive that fate over powers free will like creon or ismene. They belive that rules overpower all and for no one and nothing should you disobey the law. Antigones fate does not even cross her mind but creon and ismene will not let free will over power what is meant to be
Our fate is what dominates us always, but our free will, will always change that fate. Like Antigone her fate was not to die because she had no reason to die but when she saw something that needed changing her free will took over and changed that destiny. Ismene also faces this conflict she has every intention of abiding by the law but then she saw her sister in fear and agony and her free will took over as she stepped up to defend her sister. So our destiny is what governs our lifes as the dictator but free will is the Antigones reaching in and changing what is wrong.
Fate and destiny are always there right in front of us, where as free will takes planning and the events going on around in one's environment. Both are equally powerful, but fate may be a little more so. It is one's fate that decides the choices one makes with the free will given. In the beginning of the book, Antigone's fate was to live, but the free will she was given gave her the choice to disobey Creon's law about burying her brother. As of the moment she made the choice to go against Creon, her fate was to die. Towards the end of "Antigone," her fate may change again if Creon is overruled by Haemon, or if he dies before Antigone's execution and Haemon decides she is to live and be his queen. Ismene's destiny was at first to live on, but she used her free will to try to protect her sister, where her destiny is put to question and is now in Creon's hands. Ismene believes she is about to be put to death, but since her fate rests in Creon's outstretched arms, he may choose otherwise.
In "Antigone," fate and free will are argued a lot. In truth, not one is greater or more powerful than another. Instead, one influences the other. If all people had was free will, where would life lead us? If all people had was their fate to look forward to, they all would know what life has in store for them. While reading "Antigone," I have learned that you cannot have one without the other, for if one does only have fate, or only has free will, the world would end in catastrophe.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Often in our lives, fate and destiny conflict with our own free will. Should we spend our time doing what we were so called “destined” to do? Or should we make our own choices on what we think is right? Who decides our destiny anyways? Sometimes this answer can vary, because many different people can have a good or even bad influence on our destiny. Someone could be doing something they don’t necessarily love only because it was there “fate”. Instead you should make your own choices; therefore, I think free will dominates over destiny. In the story, the destiny of the women (Antigone and Ismene) is to be married and have children and work around the house. In which you would have little power. While Ismene shapes her mind around her destiny, Antigone decides to use her free will. She decides to do something she won’t regret, which is to burry Polyneices. She makes her own independent choice, even though it breaks the law. However, the pride within Antigone is just, unbelievable. Her pride is an attribute that I really admire. Anyway, at this time Ismene thinks Antigone is crazy. Ismene only wants to stay out of trouble; she wants to follow the steps of every woman during that time period. Although, it is interesting and almost angers me at the fact that Ismene changes her mind in the end. Saying that she was involved in the deed. It aggravated me because she didn’t have the pride, she didn’t deserve it. Then I thought, maybe she has changed, which might be considered a good thing. But Creon, is a whole different story, he is the man who changes other people’s destinies. He decides their fate. There are two main ones, life and death. And in this case Antigone’s new destiny is death. But Haemon did not like this one bit. His fate was with Antigone. So he was thinking, how could he continue living if his fate was ruined? Implying that if this dear woman dies, he would take his life too. Creon thought this was silly, thinking it was a threat to him. What I found very appealing was the fact that all characters’ destinies almost intertwine. This being an observation I noticed throughout the story. Is this a coincidence? Or is this the destiny of all the characters?
Free will is very strong when it comes what your fate and destiny will turn out as but even though what you do with your free will, and the desicions you make in life, fate always will always dominate it. Fate and destany can not be changed and what ever you do with your free will, it will always conclude in expected fate. In the book, as it stands now Antigone's fate is to die. Her free will led her to braking the law by burying her brother, but it is truely the fate of death that luered her into the unforgiving deed. She even knew her fate and destiny was that she was going to be sentenced to death from Creon, yet her free will told her that she should be loyal to her brother, even if her fate ends tragically. Antigone's fait of how she was destined to die over ruled her free of wisdom and led her to the decision to carry out her fait.
It seems that all of the characters in the book "Antigone" use their free will against each other. Antigone's free will led her to burying her brother Polynices, for her own moral reasons, but also her free will led her against Creon's laws. Creon's free will is going against what the gods and taking avantage of him being a king. Also Haemon's free will is mainly against his father Creon, and his unjusticed decisions.
Free will is the choice to guide your own life and make your own decisions. But, fate is something that is said you have no control over; something that is decided for you when your born. Like, TPeck said, Antigone's fate at the beginning of the story is to live because she's done nothing wrong. But, it was her choice to break the law and she knew the penalty was death. Also, Ismene almost seems scared of her fate in the beginning of the book. She tries to stay on the safe side and not break the law, trusting that she'll live longer. But, as the book goes on she realizes that she doesn't want her fate to be that she's all alone, so she uses free will and decides to try to be able to die along side her sister. In this book, I think free will dominates as you can see from my examples. But, Creon limits it. He states that no man can bury Polyneices which limits anyone's choice of trying to give him a proper burial, yet Antigone does it anyways. Ismene on the other hand, doesn't stray away from her own free will. She is scared of breaking the law and making her own decisions so she tries to play it safe.
I believe that in Antigones world "fate" is up to the "gods" where destiny is a result of the fate the gods caused. Ultimatly in Antigones time and world both fate and destiny were up to the gods. Personally, I believe in fate but not destiny. Destiny is like astrology, it's there and people believe in it, but its not real. For example just because you were born on a certain day or with certain weather it doesn't decide your career or life style. I vote that fate dominates. In Antigone, Creon acts like a God, for he thinks hes one! Creon tries to force the "destiny" of early death on Antigone when she didn't do anything wrong. Well, she broke Creons law, which was also wrong, morally that is. So can Creon really decide destiny for the rest of the village? I hope not.
Free will lets us make our own decisions while fate is changed based on our free will. i think free will dominates over fate. this is because Antigone used her free will to make her own decision to bury her brother. Her fate was to be decided not by her, but by the people around her. She has no control of her fate because it is the action of the people around her that decides her fate. When King Creon sentenced her to death, he decided what her fate would be. Ismene used her free will to decide to stand by her sister's side when Antigone was sentenced to death. King Creon also decided her fate when he did not make her go to the cave with Antigone. Her fate was changed by her free will, but her fate wasn't decided based on it, it was just altered. Free will changes fate but you can't decide your own destiny.
When it comes to free will and destiny in Antigone most times it is a descision you have to make. Antigone in most cases chooses to follow her instinct even if it decides her fate. When she buries her brother even though it means she will be stoned to death. Ignoring the punishment in store for her by Creon. On the other hand Ismene decides not to help Antigone bury Polyneices based on her anticipated fate. And she was right in doing so, she will not be killed like her sister. What I thought was wrong was when she took pride in helping Antigone when she had no interest in it. In some ways the daughters got to choose their fate but in others it was chosen for them. Creon is the King, who determines other people's fate. During these days, in some ways your destiny was determined on what rank you were in society.
Free will is the thing that lets us express ourselves and our ideals. It can be very powerful and in some opinions dangerous. Fate and destiny are things that can often be well controlled, and can go completely against ones free will. also, you never have control over your own fate, but always someone else's. To Antigone, Creon practically urged her to express her true beliefs and made the law against the burial of her brother to challenge her will. She flexed her strong feelings when she completley admitted burying Polynices, and felt proud. On the contrary, Creon's free will was to make himself as God-like as possible, to give himself as much power as possible. His free will was challenged by Antigone defying his law and he too wanted to show his motives and power. Creon ended up with Antigone's fate in his hands and he truly believed that she deserved to die to contradict him. Haemon attempts to save Antigone and does all in his power to affect her destiny. In the end, there is no real winner between free will and fate. It ends up that each character's will battles another and the outcome of the battle decides one of their fates. Each character limit's another's free will and they struggle against each-other for power.
This comment has been removed by the author.
This comment has been removed by the author.
This comment has been removed by the author.
When it comes to fate and destiny, free will can play an important role in how fate is shaped. For instance, Antigone deliberately went against Creon's law and buried her brother Polynices because she believed that he deserved this respect. Such action changed her fate, and she was later destined to die. Antigone was able to control her fate in this case, and she even knew what her fate was going to be. On page 3, Antigone says, “Death, so met, were honor; and for that capital crime of piety, loving and loved, I will lie by his side.” Free will will always dominate when fate can be controlled. However, free will is limited, and so fate will decide what cannot be controlled. On page 7, the chorus says, “And the common fate that slew them.” The chorus represents the imaginary voice, or even the conscience of the story’s messages and morals, and to me, this statement means that anyone who wishes to may change their fate. Also, the word ‘slew’ indicates that fate can be negative and will almost trap you into a permanent state of life (or death). Antigone deals with her limited free will by burying Polynices in order to stand up for what she believes in. She takes advantage of what she can control and her fate will follow accordingly. Creon knows that it is unjust to make a law against burying Polynices, but he does it anyway to show his hatred and disgust for “the traitor.” Also, Ismene originally opposed Antigone’s proposal to bury Polynices, but now she is trying to back up Antigone and even to take the blame! Well, Antigone won’t have any of it because she knows that Ismene chose her fate to live with the “dead man’s guilt.” I’m getting the feeling that Ismene really regrets being disloyal to Antigone. Based on how these characters handle their fate, I think Ismene will commit suicide because of the guilt and because she will have lost her sister. I also think Creon will end up regretting his decisions and Antigone will prevail spiritually, as she will likely die in the vault.
Fate and destiny often conflict with free will. You cannot chose your own destiny, it is planned for you. But free will is having the chance to detrmine the path that you take. Therefore i feel the free will over powers destiny. I feel that you can choose your own destiny if you so desire. In many cases when life is planned out, and you are always told what to do it is boring. The most exciting part of life is not knowing what is going to happen next and creating memeories, accomplishments, lessons, and much more on your own. In Antigone many of the characters find themselves faced with a struggle between destiny and free will. For example Antigone knows that she must bury her brother because he is part of her family and she will not prove disloyal. She then believes that her destiny is death. I do agree with Antigone in burying her brother is the nobel and respectful thing to do, but at what cost? Taking her own life is very serious. Her sister, Ismene, however has a different perspective. She feels that burying there already deseased brother is not worth the risk of the death penelty. Even though this is cowardly, it mightve been the better decision. Ismene gets to keep her life, while Antigones is taken away. Ismene chose her own path, and Antigone followed her destiny. One sister gets to keep her life while the other dies.
The ideas of fate and destiny transcend into the immortal world than free will in the real world (Not literally obviously). Destiny and fate can only be applied to people from the gods, not from fellow humans. That is why Creon is acting like a god. He is making Antigone a fate in which she starves in a cave. People are supposed to have free will until their fate consumes them. Antigone on the other hand, thinks she has already figured out her fate, and just gives up. Many people are abusing and giving up their free will to deal with fate. Fate can take someone from their free will and someone with free will might abuse fate. Creon and Antigone display this vicious cycle. Not only can someone abuse fates belonging to someone else, but they can change their own, purposely or not. Antigone, not knowingly changing her final fate, chose to bury her brother, even though it could lead to death. Antigone's abuse of fate is not harmful and Creon's abuse of fate is. The gods must not be happy with Creon at the moment.
Fate is often a confused concept. It is thought to be a deciding factor in life. But fate is only what you make of it. Though fate is powerful it is only as powerful as you make it to be. If you do nothing then your fate will obviously be bad. But if you try hard and follow in what you believe in fate cannot be worse than if you didn't. Only you yourself decide how bad or good your fate will be. This is why free will dominates. It dictates the impact of your destiny. In this story Antigone and Ismene are heckled by Creon's laws. Antigone is concerned about her free will while Ismene is all about her fate if she buries Polynecis. Antigone wants this free will so she buries Polynecis and gets the fate of being sentenced to death. But she is okay with this fate because she was able to do what she wanted to. This shows the power of free will over fate. If you are happy with what you have done then the outcome doesn't matter. Ismene is the opposite. She is worried about her fate of possible death if she helps Antigone. Since her free will is limited she just doesn't take it due to her worrying about fate. Creon has some trouble with his free will. Though it may seem that he has a lot of free will, it isn't so. He is pressured in many places. First of all he makes the statement that anyone who buries Polynecis will be punished. Then is daughter in-law to be is the one who does it. He does not expect this to happen. "What man dared to do it," Creon said not thinking that is Antigone. He then is verbally assaulted by Haemon who disapproves. But Creon is like Antigone and cares little of his destiny. He just wants satisfaction from what he does and his free will. Haemon is also conflicted. He knows his father won't budge but he still uses his limited free will to try. Every character has some conflict with free will.
Free will and destiny are conflicting ideas in one’s life. A person has the opportunity to follow what they are “destined” to do or make their own decisions, which is not always an easy choice to make. Free will is when a person makes a choice for themselves based on their morals. Morality can be shaped through many aspects such as religion, people, events, heritage and society. Fate refers to something that is predecided or meant to happen in a person’s life. However, by what is our fate decided? Is there a way to avoid the inevitable? Does a person’s destiny change, even if they use free will? Or is destiny shaped with the free will of a person in mind? Questions, such as these discuss the conflict between fate and free will. Both are components in life, whether someone uses free will make their judgments or lets fate be their guide. Free will dominates because a person’s life only truly belongs to one person and it’s that person. There should be no one telling another person what they should believe in or what decisions they are allowed to make, however that does happen. In this Greek tragedy, Antigone breaks Creon’s law that declares no one can bury Polyneices. After Oedipus’ death, Eteocles and Polyneices battle for the crown and during the fight, they kill one another. Creon assumes power and decides that only Eteocles can have a full military funeral, whereas Polyneices will be left above the ground because Polyneices was fighting against Creon. Antigone knows this is wrong and decides with her free will to give Polyneices a proper burial, even though she is fully aware the penalty is death. She says, “From mine own He has no right to stay me,” which shows she will not let Creon’s law keep her from being loyal to her family. Antigone is exemplifies being brave, persistent, strong-willed and self-less because of her free will choice. The reader doesn’t know what her destiny would have been if she did not make this decision, however this action defines Antigone as a character and shows that free will is more important to her than her destiny. Another quote from Antigone says, “I shall meet with nothing worse, than death, with honor.” This is an honorable decision in Antigone’s opinion because she knows this is what her brother deserves, even if it means giving up the chance to see her sister every day and live a life of royalty with Haemon. Ismene, Antigone’s sister, originally makes the decision not to support her sister because she “was born too feeble to contend against the state” and tells Antigone, “You go on a fool’s errand.” She was following a woman’s destiny, which is to run the household and never go against the king. Ismene doesn’t want to receive the punishment of death because she knows she has a good life ahead of her. However, when Antigone was condemned to death, Ismene uses free will to say that she participated in the deed as well because she didn’t see the point in living without Antigone.
This comment has been removed by the author.
(response continued)
Creon is another very significant character that is selfish, intimidating and thinks that only his opinion is right. Creon makes all the decisions in the city of Thebes, without considering any other opinions because he believes anarchy, a state of society with no government, is a terrible “fiend.” He is powered by free will as he decides destinies that would upset the Gods, such as making a law stating that no one can bury Polyneices just because he did not agree with the side Polyneices was on. Creon states, “Is not the city held to be his who rules it” and “Sin I, to cause my sway to be held sacred”. These two quotes shows that he was “trampling on Heaven’s honour” according to Haemon. Gods were the ones believed to decide destiny during this time and the fact that Creon is acting god-like will result in a severe punishment for him. Haemon is the most recent character that is brought into the story and he agrees that his father is wrong in this issue. He stands up to his father when saying, “Let thy wrath go! Be willing to relent”. Instead of following his father, Haemon stands up for Antigone and says he will kill himself if she is sentenced to death. This may not have been his original destiny but Haemon changes his fate based on what he believes is right, even though it is going against his own father, who is the ruler of Thebes. Antigone, Ismene, Creon and Haemon all have destinies that were set for them; however, their free will overpowers the events that were originally supposed to be part of their life. Free will allows a person to reinforce their morality and alter their destiny, therefore it dominates fate alone.
In today’s society, free will dominates fate. It’s our common belief that what happens to us in life is generally based on our own decisions. We make choices and live with the consequences, good or bad. We have the ability to make our future and create our own destiny. In fact, today, believing in fate and the power of destiny is often associated with living in a “dream world” or being out of touch with reality.
In the mind of the Greek audience, however, fate was definitely in the hands of the gods. In Antigone , Sophocles uses the chorus to represent ancient Greece’s common belief that the gods had the ability to control one’s destiny.
Antigone struggles with the laws of the land and the laws of the gods. Burying her brother is an act of free will that shows she believes that the gods’ laws are more important than Creon’s. “From mine own he has no right to stay me.”
Creon thinks that it is his destiny and birthright to be king and rule with the power of a god. His acts of free will go against the laws of the gods. “His body shall be left to be devoured by dogs and fowls of the air. Such is my will.”
I think Sophocles was trying to say that free will dominates destiny, but that the acts of free will need to follow the laws of the gods. Perhaps fate is what a person is doomed to if he strays from the laws of the gods. Creon’s pride got the best of him; when he thought he could overrule the laws of the gods, his position of power began its downward spiral.
Anigone's ancient culture was dependant on mythological gods and goddesses that rule their lives under an unseen force. In the text the Chorus kept referring to Zeus, the king of the gods, and how he had power over the people and their destinies. But some chose to move their own way against Zeus' rule, and make own laws - like Creon. He disreguarded what morals the gods had set and made ways to gain power selfishly. Fate and destiny in one hand, and free will in the other. Fate has to do with thoughts and religion, while free will has to do with society and personal ambition. Antigone and Ismene know how much society has limited themselves, but Antigone is the one who believes that isn't enough and follows through from her ideas to her actions. However, Ismene silently obeys the laws when she knows there will be punishment for any acts against the crown. Haemon understands both sides of the arguement and attemps to be neutral between his father and Antigone. But his free will begins to show through when he disagrees with Creon's unjust laws and sentence of Antigone's death. Just because Haemon's destiny is to follow in his father's footsteps and taking the throne of Thebes, doesn't mean he wants it. He did not inherit Creon's power-hungry desires or cruel and unjust punishments to those who dared to cross his path. It was Haemon's free will that was dominant inside of him that will shape his future. Also, I think that Creon can't decide Antigone's fate by sentencing her to death - it is the gods choice to allow her to die if she was meant to die, or let her flee if she was meant to escape. Fate is dependant off of free willing decisions made by those who have determination and a voice.
I think free will dominates, atleats in our society now, because you determine your destiny by your choices (free will). In Ancient Greece your destiny was pre-determined by the Gods, so Antigone buried her brother not because she was told but because she believed it was the right thing to do, she used her free will, and that determined her destiny, which the Gods had planned out for her. In the begining Ismene was disagreeing with Antigone about burying the body which was her free will, but when Antigone was sentanced to deaths he realized her destiny was too die with her sister, but that wasn't in the Gods choice of Isemenes destiny, because she did not get sentanced to death like Antigone. I think free will is more important now in our world today, but back then I think detsiny was bigger because of the Gods, especially Zeus who was refered to alot in the text as the God of all Gods and had power over people and their destinies.
This comment has been removed by the author.
In the book, Antigone is harshly driven by free will. She will not allow her deceased brother to be betrayed, even though Creon says so. By doing this Creon is creating his own destiny in defying the gods. Sending Antigone to die in a mounatin cave is a godly proclamation. In no way shape or form is Creon even close to that. Now the people and the gods are furious at him. He has certainly convinced his death through free will.
Creon has also crushed Antigone's free will by creating her destiny. The gods were not planning for Antigone to part from the earth so soon. All she wanted was for her brother to be buried with dignity and pride. By Creon changing the gods laws, Antigone is forced into a destiny involving certain death.
Even though destiny has portrayed itself a few times, the theme of free will definitely overpowers it. Not that many people want thier lives to be paved out for them. They want what they feel is right to them. Unfourtanelty in Ancient Greece no one had the right of free will. Everything was controlled by the gods, and those who defied these powerful immortals were punished severly. As you find out in the book, Creon and Antigone are both disciplined harshly.
Family law involves a very sensitive matter. This is something every family lawyer must understand.
see more at-family lawer
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home