The Omnipotence of Fate in the Literary Canon

What characterizes the concept of fate? How do liturgical, literary and artistic creations deal with its presence? Alongside technological, scientific and artistic developments come different perceptions of mankind’s own raison-d’être and the status of his existence. The thought of a master puppeteer controlling each and every fibre of human life, has entranced man since the incipience of civilization. We have never looked back as our fascination and intoxication continues to amplify with the ebbing tune of fate’s every chord. The potent motor that churns, producing our thoughts and reasons for making the decisions that bring us through to our final destination, is the basis of our fates. Literature and art spanning centuries; from Shakespeare’s renowned tragedies King Lear, and Macbeth, to Ivan Turgenev’s masterpiece Fathers and Sons, to the contemporary lyrical compositions of The Dave Mathews Band, are redolent of man’s vision of life’s purpose, shifting, while still echoing the tenets of fatalism’s doctrine.

The belief and fear in the presence of witches, ghosts, hexes, and other elements of the supernatural is rife during Elizabethan England. The putative notion of a perceptible relationship between the macrocosm of t

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I am who I am who I am well who am I/Requesting some enlightenment/ Could I have been anyone other than me?/ And then I'll/ Sing and dance and i'll play for you tonight/ The thrill of it all/ Dark clouds may hang on me sometimes/ But I'll work it out”. The witches prophesize that Banquo will be; “Lesser than Macbeth, and greater” (I, ii, 66) and “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. The song is not a judgment or condemnation of predestined life, but rather an acknowledgment and recognition of its ineffaceable presence. His sweet elation while infatuated with Anna Sergeyevna Odintzov turns to sour melancholy, as he is rebuffed by his cold hearted enchantress.

Bazarov, the classic literary nihilist of Ivan Turgenev’s novel Fathers and Sons, is a vehement iconoclast. The salient presence of an elaborate human plan drives Bazarov through to his final inauspicious destination of loneliness and despair.

The alternative music group The Dave Mathews Band, released the song “Dancing Nancies” in 1994 as part of their album “Under the Table and Dreaming”. Fateful irony draws the young man towards romance and introduces him to sensual feelings of love and passion. In particular Shakespeare’s tragedies King Lear, and Macbeth make a statement on the forces behind the actions of man. Although the witches' prophecy foretelling Macbeth’s assent to the title of Thane of Cawdor is fated and thus requires no action on the part of Macbeth, the further prophecy relating to Macbeth's ascent to kingship, needs to be acted on. There is a genuine trust in the integrity and righteousness of the universal plan. Our contemporary age of innovation and technology could offer no greater contrast to the medieval Scotland of Macbeth or the pre-Revolutionary Russia of Fathers and Sons.

Macbeth is a play in which several characters are deceived or wrongfully punished by the forces of fate. However, it is in sharp contrast to the Shakespearean portrayal of an excessively cruel divine justice.

Approximate Word count = 1562
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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