Ashwin Chidambaram 1 Ashwin Chidambaram Humanities ­ Section B Mr. Ludt The Fate of Free Will Fate versus free will is a debate that may never be quelled. It forces people to rethink what they have done and what they will do. To think that everything one does is predetermined seems ludicrous to some. However, it's equally as preposterous to say that everything that happens in the universe is simply spontaneous. Homer’s epic poem “The Iliad” and Euripides' “Women of Troy,” are similar because their authors used their texts as a medium to convey the same message about fate and free will. “The Iliad” and “The Women of Troy” both send the message that fate is a supreme force and always prevails over free will; any free will that the characters have in each text is short term and has no permanent effect. In “The Iliad,” there are many instances where no matter what a character does, what happens to him or her in the future will be the same. Hecuba and the maiden women were clearly destined to be captured by the Greeks. No matter what they did, they would have been captured. Hektor, under advice from Helenos, tells his mother (Hecuba) to go, “to the spoiler Athene, assembling the ladies of honour, and with the things to be sacrificed...if only she [Athena] will have pity on the town of Troy, and the Trojan wives, and their innocent children,” (Homer) indicating that Hektor believes that if the women hide in the temple of Athena, they will not be captured by the Greeks. In the end, they are captured by the Greeks (the Greeks chose to insult Athena by dragging Cassandra out of Athena’s temple). If the women stayed in the city, the soldiers would have captured them. Hektor thought that this could be avoided if the women had Ashwin Chidambaram 2 stayed inside Athena’s temple; clearly he was wrong. No matter where the Trojan woman decided to stay, it was their fate to be captured by the Greeks. Although the women had a certain amount of free will (choosing to hide in the temple of Athena), it never overcame their destiny. Another example of fate overruling free will was when Paris initially refused to fight in the war. In the middle of the war, Hektor finds a grief­filled Paris sitting in his room and berates him for not fighting in the war when the Trojan people were dying. At first, Paris refused to fight because he was too sad. Then he says the, “soft words of my wife was winning me over and urging me into the fight, and that way seems to me also the better one...wait for me while I put on my armor of battle,’” (Homer) indicating that he will fight the battle even though he initially refused to. Paris exercised his limited free will by first withdrawing from the battle. In the end, fate overcame free will and Paris went back into the battle, just as fate intended him to. Fate gave Paris two options: grieve the war and then fight, or just fight. Either way, Paris ended up fighting on the battlefield. The same applies for Hektor. At the end of book 6 of “The Iliad,” Hektor visited his wife Andromache and newborn son Astyanax, and told them that he will leave to fight in the war. Seeing that Andromache was disappointed, Hektor said, “No man is going to hurl me to Hades, unless it is fated, but as for fate, I think that no man has escaped it once it has taken its first form,” (Homer) showing how he knows that fate will overcome his free will. Hektor said that he will not die on the battlefield unless it his fate; this assures Andromache that if Hektor's fate is to live, he will not die in the battle and will be able to return to see his family. He told Andromache that his free will is nothing compared to fate; since his free will did not matter, Hektor decided to go to the battle and fight for Troy like a proper warrior. Clearly, in “The Iliad,” no matter what characters do, their fate remains the same. Ashwin Chidambaram 3 Similarly, in Euripides’ play, “The Women of Troy,” the characters of the play are unable to escape their fate. Cassandra, daughter of Trojan Queen Hecuba, has the ability to know what the future is, but is cursed because now one will ever believe her. This causes her to be partially insane. When Cassandra found out that she was going to be Agamemnon’s concubine, she said “‘I shall kill him [Agamemnon] and destroy his house...but let that go; my song shall not tell of the axe which is to fall on my neck–and not only mine,” (Euripides) indicating that she knew what was going to happen to her when she arrived at Agamemnon’s place. Cassandra knew that she was fated to die soon. She was morbidly pleased at the same time because she knew Agamemnon was going to die as well. Cassandra did not try to prevent her death because she knew that fate was unstoppable. She did not bother exercising her free will because she knew it would not have made a difference. Another example of a character who could not escape their fate was Helen. Helen, Menelaus’ wife, also the catalyst for the Trojan War, was fated to be brought back to Greece with a death sentence. When Menelaus searched for Helen, he said, “I am here now to fetch home the Spartan woman, once my wife..I’ve decided not to carry out sentence here but take her back to Hellas, and there see that she pays with her blood,” (Euripides) without even hearing Helen’s side of the story. This means that no matter what Helen was going to do or say, Menelaus was going to give her a death sentence. Hecabe hates Helen so much that she finds a way to guarantee Helen’s death. She asks Menelaus to let Helen defend herself under the condition that she will also have the opportunity to argue for Helen’s death. Helen argued that she did not betray her husband, that she tried to escape, but was prevented many times. In the end, Helen pleaded, “No, no, I beg of you! The gods sent this on me; don’t take my life for their misdoing, but forgive,” (Euripides) hoping that she would be able to Ashwin Chidambaram 4 prevent her death sentence. Menelaus did not budge and decided to do what he initially planned on (sending her back to Greece to face her death sentence). All of Helen’s options would have placed her in Greece with a death sentence. If she did not speak up for herself, Menelaus would have gave her a death sentence because he already planned on doing that without even seeing Helen. When Helen tried to defend herself, Hecabe unleashed all her hatred by giving Menelaus a myriad of reasons to execute Helen. Clearly, the characters in “The Women of Troy” could not overcome their fate. The Gods in both texts were also subject to fate; as powerful as they may appear, Gods were also bound to fate. In “The Iliad,” Hektor prayed to Zeus to “‘grant this boy, who is my son, may be as I am, pre­eminent among the Trojans, great in strength... let him kill his enemy,” (Homer) hoping that Zeus would be able to keep his son alive. Unfortunately, Hektor’s son, Astyanax, was killed by the Greeks. It was Astyanax’s fate to be killed at such a young age. Even Zeus, king of the Gods, could not prevent Astyanax’s death. Another example of a God subject to fate was Poseidon. After Troy had been conquered Poseidon said, “I am Poseidon. Troy and its people were my city...Now Troy lies dead under the conquering Argive spear, stripped, sacked and smouldering,” (Euripides) meaning that he was deeply saddened by the destruction of Troy. This brings into question why Poseidon, a God, did not stop the Greeks from ruining his city. The only logical explanation is fate. Fate is a force that reigns above the gods. Poseidon did not stop the Greeks because if he did, the Trojans would have won the war against the Greeks, which was not what fate wanted to happen. Since the Greeks beat the Trojans, it made Poseidon more likely to side with Athena to punish the Greeks on their voyage back home. Fate wanted the gods to team up, so fate made a situation in which Poseidon was vulnerable to Ashwin Chidambaram 5 joining with Athena. Athena, like the other Gods, was also subject to fate. When Athena was talking to Poseidon about the Greeks, she said, “‘You know of the insult offered my temple – offered to me,’” (Euripides) to recruit Poseidon to help her punish the Greeks. The Greeks insulted Athena by dragging Cassandra out of Athena’s temple. If this insulted Athena, Athena would have done something to prevent the Greeks from offending her temple. Fate did not want her to stop the Greeks because if she did, she would not have teamed up with Poseidon to get revenge on the Greeks. By showing how even Gods are subject to fate, both authors demonstrate how fate is the most powerful force and nothing, not even Gods, can overcome it. In conclusion, Homer’s “The Iliad” and Euripides’ “Women of Troy,” are similar because they present the same view about fate and free will. Both convey that fate is the most powerful force and will always overcome free will. Fate does not mean that free will is non­existent; fate means that certain events will always happen no matter what decisions characters make. Characters may find themselves in situations where they cannot do not have any options; this is simply fate guaranteeing that something happens. An easier way to think of the relationship between fate and free will is thinking of fate as a door and free will as set of stairs. There may be multiple stairs, but in the end, all stairs lead to the same door. This is analogous to no matter what decisions a character makes, he or she will end up in a certain place that fate intends. Sometimes there is only one staircase; this is a situation where a character has no options. The argument of fate versus free will is similar to the argument between whether light is a particle or a wave. Life is mixture of both; there is both free will and fate similar to how light is both a particle and a wave. This applies to people today because the concept of fate overcoming free will demonstrates how certain events will always happen no matter what a Ashwin Chidambaram 6 person does. The concept simultaneously shows how people still have the freedom to make some decisions about their life. ­
Hecuba and the women ­ hiding in the temple will protect them ?? ­
Paris must join the fight ­
Hector dying in the fight ­ Fate does not mean that free will is non­existent Similarly, in “The Women of Troy,” fate is inevitable; no matter what a character does, he or she will always meet their fate. ­
Helen’s death sentence Ashwin Chidambaram 7 ­
Cassandra’s death In both texts, the chara The gods cannot escape fate. Poseidon Athena