Destiny, Fate and Free Will in Homers Odyssey :: Homer, Odyssey Essays

Fate and Free Will in Homers Odyssey When we look at classic Mythology we often run into the gods of that era. or sotimes they are merely backdrops to the human element of the fib but in stories such as The Odyssey the gods play a prominent if non vital role to the central themes of the story. Fate has a deposit in the Greek world but its place is not the same as it is in other scenarios or worlds. It is important to understand the word before we discuss it. Fate as far as Greek mythology goes is not precisely fortune. By most standards fate means that things occur for an un sockn reason that no one has any control over. However, in the world of Greek Mythology fate does not just happen. The gods engineer fate and they interfere to make things happen that might not otherwise have happened. Since the players do not always know of the gods involvement, things may actually appear to be fate but in reality be engineered happenings. Free will on the other hand is not engineered. I t speaks to the concept of having full authority over ones aspirations and ultimate direction. The key there is ultimate. The gods can make up the plan and choose the path, but the people had to laissez passer it. Therefore, fate and free will are not mutually exclusive and they both go on throughout The Odyssey. In The Odyssey life is ones own state instead of leaving all things up to fate, the characters had a significant influence upon his or her own existence. In The Odyssey the gods are responsible for controlling many aspects of where the story goes, but the people still have to choose to go. The gods in The Odyssey are who held Odysseus captive for over eight years. They were responsible for his capture in the first place and then refused to let him go for almost a decade. When they finally decided he should be allowed to find his way home they made it known to his captor Kalypso. However Odysseus still had to choose to leave. Kalypso tried to keep him by offering immorta lity. You would stay here, and guard this house, and be immortal (Homer 267). Odysseus could have stayed but he chose to go. Some say that the gods knew Odysseus would not stay and that is why they decided to let him go.