Destiny is the notion that certain parts of our lives are predetermined and no matter how much we will it to be different, it will not change. Greek culture and literature puts a large deal of importance on the idea of destiny. Sophocles’ tragedies of Oedipus Rex and Antigone are perfect examples of characters that fight the uphill battle against their destinies. In Oedipus Rex, a shaman foresees that Oedipus will kill his father and have sex with his mother. Out of fear that this will come true, Oedipus’ parents exile him and due to this he runs into them later on in life as a stranger and fulfills the prophecy. Oedipus’ parents attempted to change their fate and the fate of their son but in doing so put in motion events that led to their destiny unfolding.

In Antigone, two brothers named Eteocles and Polyneices fight for the throne and both die in the process. Creon, ruler of Thebes, orders Eteocles to be buried and Polyneices to be left to rot. Polyneices’ sister, Antigone, defies Creon’s orders and buries Polyneices. Creon buries Anigone alive in a cave but his son Haemon begs him not to. The prophet Tiresias comes and says that if Creon doesn’t release Antigone, he will lose a son. While Creon decides what he should do he finds out that Antigone, Haemon, and his wife Eurydice have killed themselves.

The idea of fate in a tragedy is to tell the reader what horrible thing is going to happen at the end of the story. The importance of this is to see how the characters use this knowledge and in most cases the characters misuse it or panic. Certain things are written and certain things can be changed by will but the tragedy of man is that he does not want to accept that certain things are out of his control.

People in ancient Greece heavily believed in fate. They believed that a person had their destiny laid out before they were born and nothing would change it. Sophocles, a playwright, used the theme of fate in his plays. One play in which fate is evident is Antigone, in which Creon suffers a terrible tragedy that he tried to avoid.

In the play Antigone, Creon orders that Antigone’s brother Polyneices’ dead body be left on the battle field and not buried. Antigone pleads with Creon to bury him and when Creon refuses, Antigone decides to bury Polyneices her self. When Creon learns of this, he sends Antigone to be buried alive and gets into a fight with his son.

After Creon orders the punishment on Antigone, Teiresias, a prophet, gives Creon a dire warning. Teiresias tells Creon that if he does not bury Polyneices and forgive Antigone then Creon “will not see the sun race through its cycle many times before you lose a child of your own loins, a corpse in payment for these corpses.” Creon quickly realizes that he has to listen to the God’s so he decides to bury Polyneices and forgive Antigone but he finds out it is too late; Antigone had killed herself and when Creon’s son saw her dead body, he killed himself as well. Later Creon’s wife killed herself because of the death of her son and cursed Creon right before she died.

Fate is clearly seen in this tragedy. Once Creon decided on a punishment, the Gods decided on a punishment for Creon. Even though Creon tried to fix his mistake, the God’s still followed through with their plan for Creon. Sophocles wanted to teach people that it is impossible to escape fate. Sophocles wanted people to have a catharsis of fear after reading his plays, something they definitely had after reading about the tragedies caused by fate.

Throughout the history of the world, divine intervention has been a prevalent matter.  Specifically, many Greek pieces of art and literature the idea of fate is intrinsic.   Socrates’ trilogy of Theban plays is a prime example of these ideals.  In this trilogy there are the Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone.

Before the story of Antigone, there was Oedipus Rex.  Oedipus Rex epitomizes the concept of fate.  From his early birth it was foretold that he would kill his father and marry his mother.  Then he would be the father of his siblings.  Since fate was no laughing matter to the Greeks, Oedipus’s parents decided to kill him to prevent those occasions from ever happening.  Little did they know that Oedipus did not die, and instead his destiny began to unfold.   Unknowingly following the commands of fate, Oedipus kills his father at a crossroad.  He then continues along this predetermined path and marries his mother.  From a baby these events were foretold to happen, and they were unintentionally carried out by Oedipus.  In this respect the Greeks believe, fate is determined from the day one is born and there is no way of stopping it. Oedipus’s parents tried to end his life and his life’s purpose along with it, but they couldn’t stop the doom he was foretold to bring upon himself and them.  In this sense, the Greeks believed that man could not unbend the chains of fate and change the course of life.

            However, Antigone presents a different argument to this idea.  The first implication is the word anti in her name.  Her name suggests that she opposes a belief of the Greeks.  Contrary to the belief that there is a predetermined path for every person, Antigone takes actions into her own hands.  She chooses to go against Creon and bury her traitorous brother.  Enforcing her stance on individuality is the fact that she takes her own life.  She refuses to experience a judgment by another that should’ve been decided by her deeds.  Hanging herself proved that she defied the verdict on her life and she is the sole controller of her life.

            The Greek way of life was centered on fate.  When a person was born he was given a purpose for living and that force would push him through his existence.  However, the Greeks believed in the action of choice, but as an “anti” ideal of their people.  The idea of choice gives light to our individuality, which contrasts with the idea that the gods gave us our life to carry out certain deeds.  If the gods gave us purpose then the beings of our existence isn’t ours.

In plays and in real life people believe in fate. They believe that their life and choices are predetermined and nothing can change them. In Antigone, Antigone believes that her fate is a bad one. She thinks that since she was born due to an incestuous marriage between King Oedipus of Thebes and his mother Jocasta she will forever be cursed. Antigone goes against direct order from the kings and buries her brothers body and when summoned to explain why she did so Antigone says that natural law is above the law of the king. When Antigone mentions natural law she is talking about something similar to fate something that is out of control of mortals and will always be present. In the end Antigone makes her fate a self profiling prophecy by committing suicide when the king was going to let her go free. 

From Shakespeare’s Hamlet to ancient Greek myths, fate is an inherent, and even necessary, element in tragedy. Fate is recognized to be omnipresent and omnipotent in tragedy. The free will of the characters, whether exercised or not, is overpowered by their preordained fates. Hence, a tragedy occurs when despite a character’s brave efforts and noble intentions, he/she faces death simply because they are destined to die.

This is what happens to the protagonist Antigone in Sephocles’ play Antigone. The daughter of the ill-fated Oedipus and the sister of Polyneices and Eteocles, who also died tragic deaths, Antigone is a character that rouses the audience’s sympathy. When her uncle, King Creon issues a royal edict banning anyone from giving the disgraced Polyneices a proper burial, Antigone makes the choice that dooms her life. She is forced to defy the King’s orders because of her principles and firm conviction in the laws of Heaven which dictated that the dead must be given proper funeral rites if they are to enter the world below successfully. This choice may have been of Antigone’s own will but as later events prove, she was destined to meet a tragic end and the noble principles that led her to make this choice will not save her from her fate. Even as she explains her decision to her sister Ismene, Antigone acknowledges her impending death in a fatalistic manner as she has already accepted the power of fate.

When the blind prophet, Teiresias, warns Creon that condemning Antigone to death would seal his own fate, the King agrees to free Antigone and allow Polyneices’ burial. In another example of how fate is generally accepted by the characters as inescapable, King Creon is fearful that the prophet will prove right and that his own fate would be to die if he does not pardon Antigone. However, fate strikes again as Antigone is discovered to have taken her own life in prison.

Thus, Antigone, whose downfall makes the story a tragedy, meets her tragic end regardless of her noble character and brave choices. The dismal ending to the story is preordained and inescapable. The sense of inevitability that overshadows all the action makes the story all the more tragic. The play concludes with a final acknowledgement of the power of fate which comes from King Creon himself as he laments, “ Everything I touch goes wrong, and on my head/ fate climbs up with its overwhelming load” (1489-90)