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  • Essay / The great importance of will and destiny in The Odyssey and the Aeneid

    In Homer's Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid, both destiny and free will are important. Destiny is unchangeable, it may seem like a coincidence, but it is something that no one controls on their own, but within destiny you have a choice. Free will is defined whenever characters make decisions or when you can do something as long as you have the resources, skills, and abilities to do it. Each destiny and each free will have connections with each other and can also be affected by each other. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In Odyssey, the most powerful evidence about fate and free will is when Polyphemus curses Odyssey in the book as they flee. "Listen to me, Poseidon who circles the earth, with black hair. If I truly am your son, and if you recognize yourself as my father, grant that Ulysses, plunderer of cities, son of Laertes, who elected home in Ithaca, never arrives there, but if it is decided that he will see his own people and return to his firmly founded house and his own country, let him arrive late, in a bad case, with loss; of all his companions, on another's ship, and he finds trouble in his house "Then he spoke in prayer, and the black-haired god Polyphemus implored his father Poseidon and his destiny." helping to curse Odysseus This proves that destiny and free will matter to each other. It is Odysseus' choice to blind the Cyclops and reveal his name to him, therefore it is his destiny. to suffer at sea alongside Poseidon, his arrogance and pride determined the course of events. But in this destiny, he has his free will to decide how and what to do to overcome the difficulties of the journey home. For a moment, he spends a year with Circe, enjoying the luxurious life and having fun with the rest. On the other hand, it's a waste of time, he could have returned home a year earlier, maybe he wouldn't have had to face the problems to come; On the other hand, the time he spends peacefully on the island, he is relaxed and immersed in the joy of happiness, but he also loses one of his men, Elpeno, who gets drunk and falls from the roof by accident. Odysseus is allowed to decide how much time he stays and when he wants to leave, he is even allowed to do whatever he wants, but under the circumstances of his abilities, whatever decision Odysseus makes, it will not change the fact that he is going home, but It will affect the process. As for Aeneid, the protector of Carthage, Juno, continually reminds us that fate may determine that the Trojans will found a city in Italy, but it does not specify how they will ultimately do so. She knows deep down that one day Aeneas will defeat Carthage and conquer Rome, and she also knows that there is no way to rewrite destiny, even if it belongs to someone else. If something is planned to happen, there is still some space on how it will happen. Juno decides to make the most of it and interfere in the lives of the Trojans until they can finally found their city. ​'Abandon what I started? Am I defeated? Am I powerless to remove the king of the Teucrians from Italy? Fate forbids it, should I suppose? As Juno said in the first episode when she sees Aeneas sanding his men happily sailing towards Italy. For me, I believe that Juno sees destiny and free will as two concepts, they are not completely opposite, and that is why she tries her best to interrupt the journey but she is certain that they.