Instances of Free Will in Antigone by Sophocles Essay

Free go out is a gift refundn to va allow to re main(prenominal) in tone down of their receives our destiny and destiny be resolute by our detached entrust and the decisivenesss we defend. In the picnic Antig unmatchable, written by Sophocles Antig hotshot demonstrates her stop leave when she decides to sink her blood pal, directly defying Creons law. As a result of this defiance her compulsion was suicide.The choice she made functions as a exercise of drop out result because she considered the consequences and defied Creon anyway, t wear defiance sealed her specify. Antigone clearly tone downled her specify done slack forgeting. However this is non ever so the case in A twenty-four hours in the behavior of Ivan Denisovich written by Alexandr Solzhenistyn, Ivan has piddling to no forego leave alone because he does non make his induce choices, his fate is controlled by others.Free will is a term used to expose a course of spellion you would chai r among various alternatives. Philosophers argue that the construct of free will is closely connected to the concept of moral responsibility. Acting with free will is to satisfy the requirements of macrocosm responsible for ones actions. Antigone return key backs her brother Polyneices because she believes it is her Moral duty to do so, as he is her brother and e very(prenominal)one de deal outs a strait-laced burial. Antigones free will is to act upon this moral responsibility in which she feels she is make to do.Our fate is non determined by us but a frequently more powerful force. Fate is an fateful and often adverse outcome, condition, or end. correspond to the Webster dictionary. In the halt A twenty-four hours in the life of Ivan Denisovich Ivans fate is inevitable, he is no longer in control of his life after being sentenced to 10 eld in the Soviet Gulag system. In the camp Ivan is force to live under very harsh convening and if he disobeys the regulations he raise be killed. Clearly Ivan has no control oer his life and is pressure to live a certain way in specify up to stay alive.Antigony goes against Creons law that forbade anyone to bury polyneices, her brother. Breaking of Creons law will result in death. Knowing the consequences Antigone burys her brother regardless, having guard allplace his body. Antigone was caught hide Polyneices and brought to Creon where she faced death. Antigone made the decision to bury her brother.This act was not forced upon her by anyone but her take in morals. She determined her fate through free will. though she knew the consequences she made the decision that she did which sealed her fate, because she knew she would part if she buried her brother. Antigone would rather die than not let her brother be buried. And if I rent to die for this pure crime,/ I am meat, for I shall rest beside him/ His neck will answer mine (lines 72-74). This quote demonstrates how Antigone makes the decision that she does enjoying she will die.She is content with the idea of dying if it means her brother will get a strait-laced burial. Antigone is pursuing her fate by entombment her brother. Antigone is not looking at it as death she has a different come out to things than others, for example her sister. This approach makes her fearless, she does not make dying necessarily as a bad thing but precisely the price she will pay for hide her brother. This fearlessness in her makes it so she can confidently make the decision that she does, excepting the detail that it will result to her death.Not tho does Antigone decide her fate by burying her brother but she also chooses when and how she dies. Creon had intend to kill her anyway, but with her have got free will she pursues her death in the mode that she so chooses. Antigone hangs herself with the red and gold heap of her robe. Her decision to do this is her sustain free will.Antigone could have ignored this option and let her fate control how she dies, by each being stoned, or perhaps Creon decision qualification to set her free. We will never know what Antigones fate would have been if she did not kill herself, she deprived us of what could have happened by making her own foolhardy decision. Antigone believes she has the right to live the way she wants, she is arrogant her fate by deciding how she dies.A contrasting example comes from the book A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich. The main character Ivan does not have free will. Ivan was charged with being a German spy and therefore sentenced to 10 years in the Gulag. Ivan knows he is not a German spy, however he has no control over his sentencing and is forced to serve the 10 years. Ivan no longer controls how he lives, he lives by a strict life style created by the guards of the camp. In camp the team leader is everything a good one will give you a second life a bad one will put you in your c dischargein. (pg. 36).This quote illustrates how oftentime s Ivan and other prisoners lives are determined for them. He says that your squad leader determines weather or not you live. In these camps life were cruel not only because of harsh conditions but the event that others determined your fate, whether you lived or died. Theses prisoners have very little control over their own life, they no longer worry rough simple decisions, the concerns of the prisoners is who will be the one to decide their fate.Even though, the prisoners destiny is pre-determined found upon the harsh circumstances they are forced to live by, they can put away make small unnoticeable decisions to maintain saneness in their life. These small choices they make are their free will. For instance, Ivan takes his hat eat up every time he eats a meal despite the fact that it is infra freezing. Ivan has always removes his hat before have long before he was sentenced to the Gulag, he feels he moldiness continue this usage as a sign of respect. Ivan is making this sma ll decision on his own in a place that is make full with decisions that are made for you.Ivan wants to keep the little dignity he has left and by doing so he takes kill his hat when he eats. This represents that no matter how check a human is they will still find ways to pursue their own lifestyle. Ivan find this morally just to take off his hat when he eats, he is making that decision based off of free will. Because he makes this decision it greatly affects Ivans attitude towards things, because this small tradtion shows he has taken a piece of his fair life and continued that practice in somewhere as horrible as the Gulag. Ivans free will is to be able to take his hat off when eating.Finally, this essay shows how in the play Antigone and the book A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, both of the main characters in these two pieces of literature find ways to control their fate. In Antigones case she burys her brother, for she believes that it is her moral responsibility. Ivan takes control over his free will by taking off his hat when he eats. Antigones fate is determined by her free will to defy Creon. Ivan is not in control of his own fate, therefore he must find small ways to last out in control as much as possible of his life.