Power of Fate Flashcards
Zeus book 1 - Fate vs Free will
(about Aegisthus, Clytemnestra and Agamamnon story)
‘What a lamentable thing it is that men should the gods and regard us as the source of their troubles, when it is their own transgressions which bring them suffering that was not their destiny.’
Hermes urges Calypso to let Odysseus go - the gods can spur fate on
‘He is destined to see his friend and come to his high roofed house and his native land once more.’
Teiresias’ prophecy - does fate ruin the plot?
‘You will find trouble too in your house - insolent men eating up your livelihood, courting your royal wife and offering wedding gifts. It is true you will take revenge on these men… But when you have killed the suitors in your palace’
Amphinomus (the kinder suitor) - fate isn’t always fair - and is them all dying due to fate or divine judgement?
‘Not that it saved him from his fate. For Athene had already marked him out to fall to a spear from Telemachus’ hand’
Penelope’s dream about the flock of geese being killed by the eagle - fate can be interpreted from omens
‘This is not a dream but a happy reality which you will see fulfilled. The geese were your suitors and that eagle was your husband, home again and ready to inflict a gruesome fate on every man among them.’
When Odysseus had killed the suitors in book 22 he says…
‘These men were victims to the will of the gods…they paid respect to no one on earth… their own transgressions have brough them to this ignominious death’
