Fulfilling Fate

ANHS 1602

314010734

October 2014

Fulfilling Fate

The concept of fate is a recurring theme in Greek myth and holds much more significance than simply the final outcome of one’s life. Fate, defined, is the development of events beyond a person’s control determined by a supernatural power (Oxford 2014). Greek mythology is replete with supernatural powers that influence fate—gods, goddesses, demigods, monsters and even the Fates themselves. No mortal or immortal has the ability to change predetermined outcomes, an idea derived from the three Moerae, or “Fates”: sisters Clotho, who spins the thread of life; Lachesis, who measures the person’s destiny; and Atropos, who snips the thread of life at its end (Powell 2012, p. 152). The myths of Kronos, Oedipus and Acrisius not only offer great stories of mythological prophecy, but also provide insight into how many Greek characters in myth cope with fate. A consistency among these myths is that the efforts of characters that try to disrupt fate create the exact conditions for that fate to occur. In other words, the fate-defying characters themselves provide the path to fate’s fulfillment. This counterbalance suggests the ancient Greeks believed that it is impossible to influence the whims of those who are in authority.

Greek myths of fate can be traced all the way back to Hesiod’s Theogony, a story written around the eighth century BC that explains the birth of the gods. After defeating his father, Oranos, Kronos was told he would be killed by one of his children. To ensure this fate would never come true, Kronos ate his children, forcing them to live powerlessly in his stomach. One of his children, Zeus, avoided his father’s gastronomic imprisonment, eventually causing Oranos to vomit up the rest of his children and confining him to Tartarus (Hesiod n.d. p. 12). This course of events marks the first instance in Greek myth in which a character goes to great lengths to attempt to defy a fate, only to fail mightily....