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Fate In Oedipus The King Essay

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Hegel believes that ، A man's fate is immediately connected with his own being ; it is something which, indeed, he may fight against, but which is really a part of his own life’. (Edward Caird,26,27). Therefore, it is believed that fate may be inevitable or unavoidable as well as divinely inspired. Fate is often associated with negative connotations when compared to destiny. For example, a person who has experienced a misfortune might resign himself to fate. Since he thinks that fate is inevitable, he wouldn’t try again to change his future. This belief that all events are predetermined and, therefore, inevitable is called fatalism. Furthermore, fate indicates an unalterable course that a man takes in life; meaning that the events in a man’s life are pre-ordained and cannot be changed. Another view of fate seems to be best explained as a fork in the road: fate maps out a series of tracks one may take and, depending on individual choices, a person can reach this end or that one, therefore, it is difficult to say which idea is right, or if either idea is right. There are many literary works that expose the theme of ‘Fate ’such as Sophocles’s Oedipus the King, …show more content…

In the relationships between Ahab and the whale, and between Queequeg and Ishmael, there can be little doubt that Melville intends that certain forces will be felt at work by his reader, forces driving these characters to a particular end. But to what extent Ishmael, Queequeg and Ahab have control over their destinies is somewhat left to the reader to decide. As Melville seems to suggest at times, these men are not without their free will; however, they all seem to place so much stock in the idea of fate that they feel (perhaps wrongly) bound to what they perceive to be a destined course. Melville so carefully crafted this theme as to allow his reader to choose for him or her whether or not the Pequod’s fate has been destroyed by the

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