Use of Fate or Free Will in Greek Mythology

     

Fate [fāt] (noun): the development of events beyond a person’s control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power.

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            Most stories that I’ve read in my life often explore characters’ bravery of defying fate, making characters themselves heroes of their life. In modern days, with secular ideologies being common, the idea that people have “free will” to guide their lives has become more dominant over the idea of predestination. But before the Enlightenment, predestination and fate were dominant ideologies for a long time.

            One example of this is shown through stories of Greek Mythologies, which began to be written down around the 8th century BCE. Greek myths often explore the story of fate through emphasis on divine power of gods, portraying them as inescapable force. In the story of Oedipus, Oedipus is destined to kill his father and marry his mother according to the prophecy. Although Oedipus tried to defy his fate, he failed to pursue his free will and killed his father and married his mother at the end. Similar to the story of Oedipus, in the story of Achilles, he is either told to live a long life or die young with glory. Although his death is fated, he chooses to lead the path. In this story, Achilles chooses how he meets fate, but he can’t defy the fact of whether he is meeting that fate or not.

            Like these two stories, Greek Mythology often explores the meaning of fate, although it sometimes peeks at the meaning of “free will” too. But today, this idea of free will is much more emphasized (from a historical aspect, free will appears more after the Enlightenment). People in the time when Greek Mythology was written might have emphasized fate to find meaning in their lives. Or maybe, there might have been other reasons of people believing in fate. Although we are still unsure of whether fate exists or not, we know that things change from our choices. We are unsure if fate exists, but we are sure that “free will” exists in our lives. So, if someone asks if I believe in fate, I will say “focus on what you can do right now instead of focusing on things that you don’t know even if they exist or not”.

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Free will [ˌfrē ˈwil] (noun): the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one’s own discretion.