FATE AND FREEWILL

FATE AND FREEWILL IN THE ODYSSEY
When looking at Greek Mythology we often encounter the gods of that era. Sometimes they are merely backdrops to the human element of a story but in tales such as The Odyssey, gods play a prominent if not vital role to the central themes of the poem. Fate has a function position in the Greek world but its role is not the same as it is in other cultures. It is important to understand the word before we discuss in relation to the Odyssey. Fate as far as Greek mythology is concerned is not just fate. By most standards fate means that things occur for an unknown reason that no one has any control over. However, in the world of Greek Mythology fate does not just happen. The gods inveigle fate and they interfere to make things happen that might not otherwise have happened. Since the characters 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 engineere...