Historical Evolution Of The Concept Of Fate On Greek Tragedies

Tragedy was born in Ancient Greece and it was also the great unique achievements of Greeks. On the occasion of its birth, it has formed a deep bond with the notion of fate, which is the theme of distinctive epoch-making significance in ancient Greek tragedies. Concerning about the individual fate and his subsistence in historical situations is the consistent pith of the works of the three great tragedy dramatists of ancient Greece. Due to the specific historical conditions of society, and individual's thinking, cognition, emotion and many other factors, when confronting with unaccountable and uncontrollable things of the nature and life, ancient Greeks would consider that a certain kind of intangible force, which is what is called "fate", manipulates everything. In spite of the fact, they love life, never give in to their fates but fight against them unceasingly. The process of fighting shows exactly their indomitable characteristics and flourishing vigor of life. The powerful but unpredictable fate in tragedies confused and bewildered the ancient Greeks, fostering their self-consciousness and individual spirits. It is the confusion and bewilderment in the depth of humankind's heart, and the unremitting inquiry and exploration arising therefrom, which raise the subjectivity of ancient Greeks to a level of self-consciousness, that constitute the soul of ancient Greek tragedies. "Through the tragic fate, ancient Greek tragedies show the mystery of human's existence, and indicates the eternal spirit of the Greeks'searching and inquiring their own survival mystery, and the greatness of the action of searching alone."The notion of fate is the original life value and world outlook of ancient Greeks and also is the inevitable product of the development of human mind in specific historical periods of society. Therefore, it is evolving constantly as well with the development of social practical activities and improvement of individual's self-consciousness. Among the three tragedy poets, Aeschylus believes that fate governs all things, all persons and the supreme god; while Sophocles thinks that fate is powerful and enigmatic to all, but fate is vicious and suspectable. As far as Euripides is concerned, he believes that fate is in one's own hand, and that one can choose his own fate and can fight against the unexpected fate.The emergence, development and evolution of the notion of tragic fate of ancient Greece are the inevitable results of the corresponding historical and cultural backgrounds of society such as cognition, religion, philosophy, lifestyle, the political system and so on. Though the historical conditions of society and cultural backgrounds which the notion of fate exists are developing, the questions such as human subsistence circumstances, the existence of life and, the meaning of life and so on remain still.In the literature later, the notion of fate becomes an inexhaustible literature image. Particularly, the works of Thomas Hardy and Thunderstorm written by CaoYu historically inherit and develop the notion of fate of the Ancient Greek tragedies.