ISFD Nº 41

INGLES – 4º AÑO

LENGUA Y CULTURA IV

THE DICHOTOMY BETWEEN

FATE AND FREE WILL

IN MEDIEVAL LITERATURE

ALUMNO: QUESADA, NORMA NIEVES

DNI: 16.776.718

E-MAIL: nor.que@live.com.ar

PROFESORA: GRODSKI, BARBARA

FECHA DE ENTREGA: 2 DE DICIEMBRE, 2011

CURSADA: 2011

Table of contents

Introduction............................................................................................ 2

Fate vs free wil ....................................................................................... 3

The Wheel of Fortune or Rota Fortunae.............................................. 3

Everyman and human beings’ final destiny......................................... 4

The Wife of Bath and fate as an excuse................................................ 4

The Wife of Bath and the power of will to change fate....................... 5

Murder in the Cathedral and fate used conveniently......................... 6

Julius Caesar ignoring signs of fate...................................................... 7

Macbeth and decisions altering future................................................. 8

Conclusion............................................................................................... 10

Bibliography............................................................................................ 11

References................................................................................................ 11

Apendix.................................................................................................... 13

[1]

Introduction

One of the issues dealt by authors in the medieval times has to do with the

influence of fate and free will in human beings’ lives. Whatever destiny is called – fate,

god-will, fortune, God hand, etc. – this supernatural power has always been present

along history in people’s beliefs. In spite of that, many people prefer thinking that they

have the power to change the course of their lives through their own decisions.

The analysis of various works – Everyman, The Wife of Bath by Chaucer,

Murder in the Cathedral by Thomas Elliot, and Shakespeare’s plays, The tragedy of

Julius Caesar and Macbeth, two of them fictional and three of them which reflect

historical facts – will lead us to discover to what extent these authors believed that our

decisions can change our lives.

[2]

"Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved."

(William Jennings Bryan)

First of all, some definitions of vital importance for this work need to be

introduced: fate or destiny is the power that is believed to control everything that

happens and that cannot be stopped or changed; fortune are the good and bad things

that happen to a person, family, country, etc.; free will, the power to make your own

decisions without being controlled by God or fate.1

From the beginning of the times, there has always been a lot of discussion about

whether we have the capacity to change our destiny and make a difference, or whether

we have to accept it as it is written in the Tablets of Destiny - a clay tablet inscribed

with cuneiform writing, also impressed with cylinder seals, which, as a permanent legal

document, conferred upon the god Enlil his supreme authority as ruler of the universo2.

For those who believe that free will governs their lives, taking decisions is not only a

way of changing things, but also a responsibility. Although the options can be various at

the moment of choosing a course of action, you have to determine which the best for

you is and how it will influence your future. On the other hand, those who blindly

believe in fate, or destiny, or fortune, or God hand regulating their lives will attribute

their success or their failure to them without trying to have any kind of control.

Depending on what our position is, we will see things and live in a different way.

During ancient times, Roman and Greek philosophers assigned the fickle nature of

Fate to the Wheel of Fortune or Rota Fortunae, which was spun at random by

goddess Fortuna.

Philosophers say that Fortune is insane and blind and stupid,and they teach that she stands on a rolling, spherical rock:they affirm that, wherever chance pushes that rock, Fortuna falls in that direction.They repeat that she is blind for this reason: that she does not see where she's heading; they say she's insane, because she is cruel, flaky and unstable;stupid, because she can't distinguish between the worthy and the unworthy.3

Later on, in medieval times, Christianism used Fortuna for religious instruction,

and to make people become aware of the low value of temporary things during their

1 Hornby, A. S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. 7th Edition. Oxford University Press, 2005.2 Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 3 Pacuvius, Scaenicae Romanorum Poesis Fragmenta. Vol. 1, ed. O. Ribbeck, 1897

[3]

lives on Earth. They referred to that wheel as the "wheel of life" or the "wheel of

fortune," "which never stands still, being constantly subject to the turns of fate"4.

In the morality play of unknown author, Everyman, when Death first appears he

speaks about the final destiny of every man:

Lord, I will in the world go run over all, And cruelly outsearch both great and small; Every man will I beset that liveth beastly Out of God’s laws, and dreadeth not folly; He that loveth riches I will strike with my dart, His sight to blind, and from heaven to depart, Except that alms be his good friend, In hell for to dwell, world without end.5

The character Everyman, who represents all men living on Earth, summoned by God

will, is told that he has to go on a journey that will lead him to the afterlife – final

destiny reaching him. He asks for the company of Fellowship, Kindred and Cousin,

Beauty, Goods, and Strengh, but he is abandoned by all of them to make his journey

alone. Only Good Deeds and Knowledge, which has been previously neglected by the

character, can save him at the end, when he demonstrates his intention of changing his

soul fate through Confession.

I pray you, help me in this need Or else I am forever damned indeed; Therefore, help me to make reckoning Before the Redeemer of all things.6

It does not matter how much he pleads or how many things he offers to the

messenger for a few more days, this voyage is not going to be postponed. The Final

Judgement for Catholics is inevitable, nobody can avoid the day of reckoning; however,

if you are willing to repent of your sins, God will welcome you to Heaven.

Chaucer also used the dichotomy between fate and free will in some of his

books. For instance, in the Prologue of his tale The Wife of Bath, the widow explains

her own character in terms of astrology. The influence of planets at her birth date

determines her dominant personality, something she takes advantage of and she has no

intention to change. She has also a birthmark of which she likes to talk about in public,

as well as gap-teeth that are supposed to identify women as lecherous and voracious. All

of these signs give her the possibility to behave in the way she is – authority-

4 Dictionary of Symbolism, p. 3795 Gassner, J. Everyman. A modernized version.6 Cf. 5

[4]

challenging, trouble-making, bossy, liar, quick-tempered – without feeling embarrassed

or ashamed, because she is not guilty but her fate.

Venus gave me my lust, my lecherousnesse, And Mars gave me my sturdy hardiness.7

Moreover, what she really does is to use her fate as an excuse to be able to do her will,

which is mainly being able to break the rules. At those times, women’s role was to help

their husband run the states, especially when the men were at battle. Their main duty

was to give her husband a son – although it was preferably to deliver between six to

eight children as mortality rate was very high – and to look after the household servants.

Nevertheless, they had no rights and they were considered as their husbands’ property.

That is not obviously the case of the wife in question, who would negotiate everything

with her husbands or dominate them, if that was not possible, by means of sexual

intercourse.

In the tale itself, when the Queen and the ladies decide to pray to the King for

grace in favour of a knight who has raped a maiden, we can observe how the women’s

collective will can change the fate of the man who has been condemned to die. The

Queen gives the knight a quest to answer a question – “I will grant you life if you can

tell me what thing it is that women most desire."8 – in a lapse of a year, so he begins a

journey to search for its solution, becoming an errant man who travels through cities

and forests. All his efforts are in vain, and the year is almost over, untill the moment he

passes a forest and sees a circle of women dancing. When he approaches to them, they

vanish; only one of them, old and ugly, remains in the place and promises to help him if

he grants her a wish. They return to the court and the woman tells the knight the answer

to his quest: “women desire to have dominion over their husbands as well as their

lovers, and to be above them in mastery”. 9 The Queen is pleased with his answer and

the ugly woman asks the knight to marry him. The knight unwillingly accepts the old

repulsive woman as his wife only to keep his promise after her saving his life. In this

moment, we could less than imagine that fate cannot be avoided. Despite this, when the

old lady gives him the opportunity, in their first night together and after defining a true

gentleman, to choose between having her ugly and old for the rest of her life, but

obedient and faithful to him, or having her young and fair and have to expose himself to

7 Chaucer, Geoffrey. Canterbury Tales. Everyman’s Library. The Wife of Bath (line 611).8 Cf. 7 (line 48)9 Cf. 7 (line 181)

[5]

the risk of all men coming to his house for her, he freely decides to let her choose

whichever she considers more pleasing and favourable for both of them.

I don’t care which of the two I get; For whatever pleases you suffices for me.”10

This act of gentilesse and strong will on his part convinces the woman to become

beautiful and good for him for ever.

Now, leaving aside fiction, Thomas S. Elliot also deals with fate and free will in

his historical play Murder in the Cathedral when he refers several times to the wheel,

to God’s providence and his plan for history. After seven years of living in France as a

refugee because of a conflict over power with King Henry II, the Archbishop of

Canterbury, Thomas Becket, returns to England. There, he is welcomed by a group of

women – choir – who let the audience know that life during his absence has been very

hard – “living and partly living”11 – but they prefer him being away than running the

risk of loosing his life as the conflict is not fully solved. Becket receives the visit of four

tempters, who offer him physical safety, power, wealth, fame, a coalition with the

Barons and the glory of martyrdom depending on his decision to serve the King, the

Barons, or the Church. Danger is in the air and the three priests that are under Becket’s

orders are aware of that. Nonetheless, the Third Priest’s advice is to let things happen as

they have to:

For good or ill, let the wheel run.The wheel has been still, these seven years, and no good.For ill or good, let the wheel turn.For who knows the end of good or evil?Until the grinders ceaseAnd the door shall be shut in the street,And all the daughters of music shall be brought low.12

The choir performance is foreshadowing Becket’s murder, something that he chooses to

ignore in order to seek for martyrdom. For Elliot, as he establishes it in the Interlude

when the Archbishop is preaching to his people on the Christmas morning, a martyr is

designed by God:

The true martyr is he who has lost his will in the will of God, and who no longer desires anything for himself, not even the glory of being a martyr13.

10 Cf. 7 (line378)11 Eliot, T. S. Murderin the Cathedral.Harcourt, Inc. 196312 Cf. 1113 Cf. 11

[6]

Afterwards, he receives the visit of four knights, who accuse him of several crimes

against Henry II and his kingdom – ambition, pride, envy, ingratitude, rising up false

opinions against the King, insolence, greed, appropriation of power, transgression and

reversing his policy and becoming indifferent to the fate of his country since the

moment he became Archbishop. Finally, after asking the priests to leave the church

doors open, Becket dies in the hands of the four king’s knights, not being able – and not

willing – to escape his fate while the Third Priest defines that day as any other day in

which the divine design will be present.

In the tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Caesar is leading a

procession along the streets of Rome during the Ides of March when a soothsayer warns

him about his death. This warning is not taken into account by Caesar, who is rejoicing

on his triumph over the sons of Pompey the Great. At the same moment a conspiracy to

kill the emperor is taking place among his generals, who think he is getting too

ambitious and powerful. Cassius, while trying to convince Brutus to become part of the

plot, assures that they are responsible of the power Caesar exercise over them as he says

that every man has the power to change his fate in certain occasions:

Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.14

Caesar himself has an intuition that something is wrong when he refers to Cassius look

as “lean and hungry”. Even his wife, Calpurnia, has a dream in which she sees a statue

of her husband full of holes and bleeding like a fountain – a foreshadowing of the thirty

three times he is going to be stabbed later that day –, a lioness giving birth in the streets

of Rome, warriors fighting in the clouds, dead people yielding from their tombs and

Caesar’s ghost, all signs that something bad is going to happen, so she asks her husband

to stay at home. He seems to be going to follow her advice, but when Decius asserts that

women are not able to interpret dreams, Caesar decides to ignore his wife and, defying

fate, he goes to the Capitol, where he is brutally assassinated. After his death, Brutus

and Marc Antony present their speeches to the crowd. The latter believes that a civil war

is possible in Rome due to the recent events and, this belief, transmitted to the people

while he delivers his speech, pushes the crowd to rebel against the conspirators and

leads to the so feared result. Omens and prophesies are present all along the play and

14 Shakespeare, W. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Worsworth Library Collection.2007. Julius Caesar. (Act I, Sc II)

[7]

most of them come true; that might drive us to the conclusion that characters have no

power over their lives.

Similarly, in the tragic play Macbeth, Shakespeare focuses on the matter of man

will being able to change their future. The question here is what forces a correct man

like Macbeth to commit a crime. Again, he uses the three witches’ prophesy to make his

audience think that external forces can control the main character actions and future.

Macbeth is a soldier who clearly knows the difference between good and evil.

At the beginning, having defeated two invading enemy armies, Macbeth and Banquo are

crossing a moor when they meet three witches who tell them that Macbeth will become

a thane and, later on, King of Scotland, and Banquo will never be a king but his heirs

will. The two men give no importance to the witches’ words until the moment some

generals come to congratulate them on their victory and inform them that Macbeth has

been named thane of Cawdor. King Duncan arranges to dine at Macbeth’s castle that

night and Lady Macbeth is informed of the facts by his husband. Immediately, she

begins to plan Duncan’s murder that very night by getting his chamberlains drunk and

blaming them the following morning. Macbeth does not agree with her plot in the

beginning but her insistence makes him change his mind. He does not want his wife to

think him a coward and promises her he'll "do all that may become a man."15 Macbeth

stabs Duncan while he is asleep and the following morning he does the same with his

chamberlains, what leads him to the throne. Duncan’s sons flee from there, considering

themselves in danger too. Meanwhile, Macbeth arranges Banquo’s murder, fearing his

heirs will claim their right to the throne. Afterwards, Banquo’s ghost visits Macbeth,

who reacts angrily, shouting to his guests, who mainly belong to the nobility. This event

makes his subjects become resistant to his kingship. Macbeth decides to pay a visit to

the three sisters. More prophesies are presented to him and he is warned about Macduff,

who has been one of the members of the opposition during his accession, because he

cannot be damaged by any man born of woman. Having learned that Macduff has

travelled to England, Macbeth orders that his family has to be killed, what leads

Macduff to seek for revenge. In the meantime, Malcom, one of Duncan’s sons, is

gathering an army in England, which Macduff joins, to dispute the throne with the

support of the Scottish nobles. In the battlefield, Macduff explains that he was born by

15 Shakespeare, W. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Worsworth Library Collection.2007. Macbeth. (Act I, Sc VII)

[8]

Caesarean section before killing Macbeth. Malcom is now the new king of Scotland

and, with that fact, the prophesy becomes true.

On one hand, the characters actions seem to be controlled by the witches’

prophesy – fate. On the other hand, we can observe a man whose convictions change as

time passes and who deviates from his prosperous future, loosing everything because of

ambition.

[9]

Conclusion

Fate or free will. Free will or fate. An issue related to faith, to religion, to

superstition, to beliefs. Would the end of each character have been different if their

decisions had been others? Problems arise when we take for granted that we cannot

change anything and we do nothing – but doing nothing is also a decision – or when we

play to be God and think we are able to make all things become completely different. Of

course, these two positions are extremes, and there are always things we can modify and

others we have to accept as they are. We have to be aware of the fact that we are not

able to change everything, but we shouldn’t let everything happen at random, either. We

have to be very careful every time we take an important decision, we should take every

possibility into account and choose consciously the better alternative as we can, not only

change our future but, affect other people’s in the process. On the other hand, we have

to be positive about the facts that we cannot change, as there will surely be a reason for

things to be that way.

All in all, we have at least the freedom to choose what we are going to believe

in, what is possible or impossible for us.

Watch your thoughts, they become words.

Watch your words, they become actions.

Watch your actions, they become habits.

Watch your habits, they become your character.

Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

(Author anonymous, reiterating the teachings of Buddha)

[10]

Bibliography

Hornby, A. S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. 7th Edition. Oxford University Press, 2005.

Pacuvius, Scaenicae Romanorum Poesis Fragmenta. Vol. 1, ed. O. Ribbeck, 1897

Dictionary of Symbolism, p. 379

Gassner, J. Everyman. A modernized version.

Chaucer, Geoffrey. Canterbury Tales. Everyman’s Library. The Wife of Bath (line 611).

Eliot, T. S. Murderin the Cathedral.Harcourt, Inc. 196

Shakespeare, W. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Worsworth Library Collection.2007.

References

Lynch, T. (1996). DS9 trials and tribble-ations review. Retrieved October 8, 2008, from Psi Phi:

Bradley's Science Fiction Club Web site: http://www.bradley.edu/campusorg/psiphi/DS9/ep/

503r.html

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. (Last modified

2011). From web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablets_of_Destiny

Medina Portal Net. (n.d.) Gods and Heroes at the Archaelogolical Museum of

Milan. From web site:

http://195.176.180.15:82/medina/courses/cm0910/group3/pages/poc.php?

ID_POC=20&ID_Lang=1

Jokinen, Anniina. (1996). Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature. From

web site: http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/everyman.htm

Goucher College, Department of English. (2007). ENGLISH 211: English

Literature Beowulf to Dryden. From web site:

http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng211/Everyman.html

Harvard College, English Department. (2004). The Geoffrey Chaucer Page.

From web site: http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer

[11]

The Green Man Review Magazine. (2011). The Roots and Branches of Arts and

Culture. From the web site:

http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/book_eliot_murder.html

Mabillard, Amanda. (2000). Julius Caesar Study Questions. Shakespeare

Online. From the website:

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/juliuscaesar/juliuscaesarstudyq.html

Mabillard, Amanda. (2000). Heebie-Jeebies: The Curse of Macbeth.

Shakespeare Online. From the web site:

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/macbeth/macbethfaq/macbethcurse.

html

BBC. (2011). BBC History. Historic figures. From the web sites:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/becket_thomas.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/caesar_julius.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/macbeth.shtml

Appendix

[12]

Wheel of Fortune /Rota Fortunae

Wheel of life - buddhism

[13]

Goddess Fortune is the personification of luck in Roman religion (I century A.D.). She is the

equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche. Her father seems to be Jupiter and like him, she can be

generous. She brings either good or bad luck according to the person she is dealing with. She is

represented veiled or even blind, and she comes to represent life's capriciousness. She is also

the goddess of fate: sometimes she helps people to foresee their future. She protects grain

supplies and, for this reason, she is usually portrayed with ears of wheat in her arms. But her

famous attribute is the wheel, symbol of the fortune that the goddess turns spreading among

humans’ good or bad auspices.

Gods and Heroes at the Archaelogolical Museum of Milan. From web site:

http://195.176.180.15:82/medina/courses/cm0910/group3/pages/poc.php?ID_POC=20&ID_Lang=1

[14]

The introduction to the play Everyman, by unknown author, and the drawing that

accompanied it.

The Wife of Bath while describing herself.

The lady of

her tale

showing

her both

possible

appearances.

The knight and his wife – first night together.

[15]

The choir of ladies in Murder in the Cathedral.

Thomas Becket being assassinated

by the four knights of King Henry II.

Canterbury Cathedral,

Plaque at Thomas Becket Murder Site 2005.

Cassius and Brutus planning

[16]

Julius Caesar death

The moment Caesar is killed.

Mark Antony delivering his

speech after Caesar’s death

The three witches

[17]

at the beginning of Macbeth tragedy.

Macbeth and Banquo on Horseback Encounter the Three Witches

Macbeth at the moment he

sees Banquo’s ghost.

Macbeth killed by Macduff in

the battlefield.

[18]