Fate by Tyler Miller

"You know how heavy the hand of God is upon us/ How we who are left must suffer for our father, Oedipus" (Antigone 6-7).

tylermiller798 — 2013-10-30 18:04:06 UTC

The characters cannot escape the fate of the gods. Oedipus' curse still remains on Thebes and its people.

"My lord, I fear - I feared it from the first -/ That this may prove to be an act of the gods" (Antigone 278-279).

tylermiller798 — 2013-10-31 01:52:26 UTC

The gods control the flow of time and events. Things happen because the gods make them happen, and the characters are forced to accept them. They do not function as bodies of free will, but as pawns in a game for the immortals.

"Nearest and dearest, she should not escape/ Full punishment - she, and her sister too/ Her partner, doubtless in this burying" (Antigone 489-491).

tylermiller798 — 2013-10-31 01:55:42 UTC

Creon believes in his own justice, rather than divine justice.

"This is the expiation/ You must make for the sin of your father" (Antigone 867-868).

tylermiller798 — 2013-10-31 02:47:50 UTC

Antigone is forced to pay for the fated sins of her father. Unlike Creon, she accepts destiny.

"The daughter of Tantalus, a Phrygian maid,/ Was doomed to a piteous death on the rock/ of Sipylus, which embraced and imprisoned her/ ... As she wasted and died" (Antigone 878-883).

tylermiller798 — 2013-10-31 02:50:17 UTC

Niobe displays an example of someone cursed by the fate of another sinner. Like Antigone, her father was punished by the gods, and that punishment was carried onward through his children.

"So strong is Destiny/ No wealth, no armoury, no tower,/ No ship that rides the angry sea/ Her mastering hand can stay" (Antigone 954-957).

tylermiller798 — 2013-10-31 02:54:56 UTC

Fate does not favor one for their wealth or success. It doesn't discriminate and will come true for any person, regardless of their social, political, or economic status.

"You cannot alter this. The gods themselves/ Cannot undo it. It follows of necessity/ From what you have done./ Even now the avenging Furies,/ The hunters of Hell that follow and destroy,/ Are lying in wait for you, and will have their prey" (Antigone 1074-1078).

tylermiller798 — 2013-10-31 02:58:19 UTC

Creon or any of the other characters cannot change their fate or the actions they have taken. The only thing they can accept and know is punishment.

"The gods do not delay/ The stroke of their swift vengeance on the sinner" (Antigone 1103-1104).

tylermiller798 — 2013-10-31 03:04:53 UTC

The gods are not caring or loving towards mankind. They are willing to punish those who are destined by fate.

"The sin of the erring soul/ Drives hard unto death./ Behold the slayer, the slain,/ The father, the son./ O the curse of my stubborn will!/ ... Upon my head/ God has delivered this heavy punishment" (Antigone 1262-1271).

tylermiller798 — 2013-10-31 03:07:38 UTC

Creon begins to realize that fate is also his enemy. His pride led to his own downfall and the destruction of the characters around him. Zeus and the gods enact their divine justice.

"What is to be, no mortal can escape" (Antigone 1337).

tylermiller798 — 2013-10-31 03:11:19 UTC

Creon and the other characters can resist or refuse fate, but they cannot stop it. They can function only as puppets trying to break free from their masters.