Fate and Destiny

Decisions and choices- an act of or need for making up one's mind, and the right, power, or opportunity to choose. Fate- a four letter word, a noun defined as the development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as being determined by a supernatural power. These are what many can believe as the most powerful forces that shape our future. The playwright, William Shakespeare, wrote a tragedy of two youngsters in love. This tale was filled with drama, mixed-emotions, laughs, heartbreaks, and affection. Written as a tragedy, the play had ended like other Shakespearean tragedies had ended; in death. The death was inevitable because of decisions and choices made fates were shaped and had played a part in the events that blossomed the love of two star-crossed lovers. As an illustration, picture two families at war with each other, a feud that everyone gets caught in the crossfire. For instance, when innocent citizens are tired of watching their supposed ‘peaceful’ streets get disturbed by the feud, and as the prologue states, “A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.” (Prologue.6) The feud was poison for the city of Verona and its citizens. Besides crummy choices were made, therefore a cursed destiny was created for two naive lovers.

What is the idea of destiny in today’s society? How does it compare to Ancient Greece Society? Today, it can be seen as a minor thing, and people don’t think about it. In Ancient Greece, destiny was seen as a major part of their lives, and they even go to great lengths to fulfill their destiny the gods have set. In Sophocles’ work, Oedipus Rex is described as a loyal king, helping the people of Thebes, but once he loses track of his mission, his arrogance to follow the will of fate brings his downfall.

Is the belief in destiny a way to encourage people to try and change it or to curse people to their dooms? Destiny was more seriously considered in during ancient Greek society and the Greeks centered their lives around oracles who could tell people their destiny and what the gods had in store for them. Whether that information was heeded or not, it greatly affected everyone’s life because it basically prophesied the future. There is a quote by Jean de La Fontaine that states, “One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.” If one knows what one is “destined” for, should one try to change it?

Destiny the hidden power believed to control what will happen in the future. In some lives people allow fate to control their outcome in life. Seeking our wyrd can make us change it, if it's not the result we intended. In various cases fate dictates our lives.

Everyone else here does though. They all believe in finding your perfect soulmate. And that this clock, embedded into your wrist, would be the one who determines ‘the one’. When it hits zero, that’s when you meet your soulmate.

One of the greatest debates in human history is fate vs free will and does fate even exist. It is a question that has been asked for centuries across many different cultures (Dennin 2016). Fate still has a impact on people today. The modern day argument isn't about being a force for good or evil like in Beowulf's culture, it is whether or not fate even exists. Everyone claims to know the answer but no one truly does. In the anglo saxon culture fate was the common belief. Not as many people now believe in fate as they did in Beowulf’s times but “52 percent of Americans say that they do believe in fate while only 29 percent do not believe in fate” (Moore, 2015). This means that fate is not as big of a deal nowadays then it was back then. Fates meaning and importance has changed but it still affects people's views and beliefs today.

The idea about free will and fate is still unsolved and debatable throughout the world. Some claim that humans have their own power to create their own destiny, however, others argue that they are inescapable victims of fate. The novel, Things Fall Apart, portrays the relationship between human’s determination to succeed and his or her own fate by describing Okonkwo as a tragic figure. While Okonkwo believes that he can overcome his fate through his hard work, Chinua Achebe reveals that fate is a powerful, inevitable event in the novel.

Yet after his encounter with the witches, his mind was going back and forth trying to figure out how he should act upon the prophecy of becoming king! It was by then that the idea of fate had been planted into his head, and with such good title to come with it, why wouldn’t he want to believe his ‘fate’? Something that I found very interesting about the witches was that looking closely at line 24-25 when one of the witches says, "Though his bark cannot be lost, yet it shall be tempest-tossed." From what I seemed to understand, these lines seemed to really show the limitations to the witches’ powers, because they were basically saying that they could only make life rough for the clueless captain, but they could not kill him. I think that this is really important to all the people who thought that the witches had ‘written out’ Macbeth’s fate because in the same way as the previous stated scene they can tempt Macbeth with predictions about his future, but they cannot make him choose evil. Meaning that in this scene, one of the conflicts is obviously fate vs. free will! All the witches really did was find a way of stirring up evil, by tempting Macbeth into choosing to opt for evil instead of good. “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir.” (Act 1. Scene iii. Line 10). Here, Macbeth seems content to leave his future to "chance." If "chance" will have

    Fate seems to defy humanity at every turn.  A man may have his life planned out to the last second, but then some random force intervenes and he dies the second after he has completed his life plan.  Some believe in fate, believing that our lives are predetermined from the moment we are born.  Other people believe that everything is random, the result of some god rolling the dice in a universal poker game.  Still other people believe that each and every person is in total control of his or her destiny, every step of the way.  Who is to say which viewpoint is false?  Every culture has a unique perception of the role of fate in our lives, and no group has the "right answer," simply a

Fate, as described in the Oxford English Dictionary, is “The principle, power, or agency by which, according to certain philosophical and popular systems of belief, all events, or some events in particular, are unalterably predetermined from eternity.” To the western world, fate is perceived as “a sentence or doom of the gods” (Oxford). They often sought prophecies of the gods, especially from Apollo, the god of knowledge. The Greeks would seek prophecies usually when they had doubts about something, or if they were afraid or in despair. When the gods made a prophecy, the Greeks put all their faith in it and believed that it would happen. When their prophecies did come true, was it really fate that

Philosophers have been contemplating the contradistinctions separating fate and free will for thousands of years now. This is a tremendously complicated dialogue and conceivably even inexplicable. Philosophically, there is an extremely diaphanous line separating free will and fate. Free will resides within one’s individuality; it has to do with the present. The how and when experiences that are within our controls that is free will. On the other hand, human beings do not have immortality, so one will never be capable enough to circumvent dying that is fate. Socrates was one of the most distinguished philosophers to demonstrate free will. He would demonstrate this by choosing in which manner he would perish, and when the phenomenon would transpire. His apprentice Plato would write with reference to this in Crito. On the other hand, Niccolo Machiavelli from the Renaissance epoch, writes references to the fate of one in The Prince. He would acknowledge the virtues that under any circumstances could dictate and control one’s fate. Socrates and Machiavelli, both make an observation to the philosophically validity of free will or fate in order to substantiate the noteworthiness of its existence.

The concept of fate and the influence of gods on mortals’ lives are prominent aspects of Greek mythology. While the gods of Olympus are commonly presented as the primary manipulators of human lives, the Fates are the true creators of destiny. Gods may be able to affect human lives in monumental ways, but predetermined destiny and the Fates’ intentions ultimately reign. The gods have respect for this authority, as well, as they’re aware that a limit on their ability to intervene is necessary to maintain the order of the universe. This leaves one to question the amount of knowledge that the gods themselves have of fate, and whether they have their own free will to refrain from intervening or if they truly must submit to the authority of the Fates and their plans. The gods do have some knowledge of the Fates’ plan, but they are also wise enough to avoid too much interference and therefore don’t necessarily need to be commanded; they sometimes help guide mortals by sending them messages and symbols—and sometimes even influencing them for their own advantage—but ultimate fate cannot be avoided.

Despite Zeus’ ability to save men from the Fates, he was also expected to submit to them. The Fates divvied out punishment and rewards according to necessity. Sometimes, the Fates felt it necessary to reveal the future. This is how oracles, soothsayers, and fortunetellers came into existence. The Fates would give the future to an oracle (for example), and the oracle would then give the future to the necessary

Back then, that book was a paperback poetry anthology called “How Fate’s Confusion Connects.” Since then, I have been penning poetry, and attending poetry workshops and writing groups to get feedback. As with “How Fate’s Confusion Connects,” I experimented with different styles: tanka, senryu, narrative poetry, even ekphrasis, which according to Wikipedia, is "a graphic, often dramatic, description of a visual work of art."

One of the most pondered questions in human existence is whether our lives are determined by forces which are beyond our control or by our own free will. It is widely believed that one's own destiny is created by fate. However, some also consider the possibility that one's own choices can determine the reality of one's existence. In Harry Potter, JK Rowling uses fate and choice as forces which shape the events revolving around her protagonist, Harry Potter, as well as the other characters in the story. Rowling does not side with one idea over the other, but instead, argues that both fate and choice are significant factors that determine the events which happen during the course of an individual's development. Although Rowling lays out