What Controls Human Life?

Human life and everything in it is always complicated. It is always impossible for human beings to have control of the situation they have fallen into in their lives. However, the freedom and intellect to react in whichever way after the situation has occurred is the only option human beings have. Fate and destiny always appear to be pre-determined. No matter what decision a person makes regarding something, the course of action towards the end is inherently determined. This begs the question; do human beings have any control over their lives? What influence do outside forces have on us? How can we tell if they are good or bad, for us or against us? The paper answers these questions by conducting a compare and contrast analysis of the texts Antigone and The Odyssey by examining what they say about what controls life human action or fate/destiny?

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In Antigone, fate plays a major role in controlling the lives of the characters. For example, Ismene concurs with Antigone that it is unfair to Polyneices, yet she would not conflict with the law. At the point when Ismene understands that Antigone is not playing about covering Polyneices. At this point, Antigone clarifies that she is doing what she should do to pursue the destiny that has been chosen by the Gods. She said, "But I will bury him; and if I must die, I say that this crime is holy: I shall lie down with him in death, and I shall be as dear to him as he to me" (55). She would not battle this destiny. She realizes that following the destiny of the Gods is more significant to following the laws of man. On this methodology, to state that the world is deterministic is to state that in the event that one knew the underlying conditions and the laws of nature, at that point one could, given sufficient opportunity and registering power to work out what might occur. By comparison, in The Odyssey, fate and destiny play a role in controlling human lives. For instance, the manner in which that Poseidon operates under Zeus' will is an ideal case of fate. While he should inevitably enable Odysseus to return home, he gets the opportunity to pick to what extent it takes and how much the man will endure all the while. Essentially, Odysseus is destined to endure and to in the long run return home, yet his activities involve making decisions. The inquiry at that point is whether, with the outcome chosen, the way to arrive matters by any means. From the text, the Zeus affirmed,

"From that time forth Poseidon, the earth-shaker, does not indeed slay Odysseus, but makes him a wanderer from his native land. But come, let us who are here all take thought of his return, that he may come home ; and Poseidon will let go his anger, for he will in no wise be able, against all the immortal gods and in their despite, to contend alone" (70-95)

In Antigone, fate and destiny controls human action. The outcome of human lives is controlled by the decision people take. No man can foretell his Fate. Obviously, destiny controls our lives. Everything that happens implies things that once may have been conceivable turned out to be unthinkable. Presence obviously advances minute by minute out of a grid of conceivable outcomes and difficulties. The conditions that exist right presently oblige what can occur straightaway. For example, in Antigone, the messenger affirms,

"Men of the line of Kadmos you who live Near Amphion's citadel: I cannot say Of any condition of human life "This is fixed, This is clearly good, or bad." Fate raises up, And Fate casts down the happy and unhappy alike" (905).By contrast, in The Odyssey, destiny and fate control human action. For instance, there are times, unquestionably, when Odysseus has options and when he could have made those options better. For example, he remains with Circe for a year and possibly appears to be slanted to leave when one of his team calls attention to they have been there for some time. Then again, Odysseus settles on a troublesome decision without assistance or direction. Sail by Scylla and lose six men without a doubt, or sail by Charybdis and possibly lose them all? Odysseus has the ability to control his destiny yet just amid limited minutes, for example, when he yells at Polyphemus, or when he leaves Calypso. From that point onward, divine beings and destiny unspool the epic story that is The Odyssey. At last, the guide of divine beings and humans brings Odysseus home, a lowering background for a man used to making due on his mind. This shows how fate controls human lives and the way we have no power over it.

Based on the readings of the two texts, it is clear that human beings do not have control of their lives but instead, fate and destiny controls them. Fate and destiny appear to be powerful sources that decide what will happen and at what time. Nevertheless, as it appears, it is impossible to determine if the outside forces are good or bad, but instead, human beings let fat and destiny determine its cause. All these aspects of fate, destiny, and control of human lives are evident in the texts Antigone and The Odyssey. The idea of fixed destiny is evident in both pieces of literature. Characters in both works of literature knew their fate, but that did not mean that knowledge is inessential to fatalism. Overall, regardless of what a person does, the activities they performed, circumstances would plan to ensure those results.

Works Cited

Homer. The Odyssey. London : New York :W. Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's sons, 1919. Print.

Sophocles. Antigone. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Print.