Sophie Chaper VI

I. DOES THE TEACHER KNOW SOPHIE WILL WATCH THE MAILBOX FOR NEW QUESTIONS? SOPHIE WONDERS (P. 50) IF SHE BELIEVES IN FATE.

A--AS IF IN RESPONSE, SHE INITIATES A LETTER OF HER OWN TO THE TEACHER, P. 51, AND ASKS WHY HER COURSE OF STUDY HAS TO BE SO COMPLICATED? IS IT FATED TO BE? WHY? WHAT DOES THE PICTURE OFFER?

III. HOW DOES SOPHIE RELATE TO HER MOTHER? SHOULD HER MOTHER WORRY, AND ARE ADULTS IDIOTIC SOMETIMES? (P. 52)

A. PREDESTINED--GIVEN SOPHIE'S DISPOSITIONS PRIOR TO RECEIVING THE LETTERS, WAS SHE 'FATED' TO RECEIVE THEM? WHAT MIGHT SOMEONE LESS CURIOUS HAVE DONE? IS SHE PREDISPOSED? RECALL THE SENSE OF WONDER DISCUSSED AT THE OUTSET. IF YOU ARE A TEACHER READING THIS, HAVE YOU EVER TAUGHT STUDENTS WHO ARE MORE RECEPTIVE TO LEARNING REGARDLESS OF THE DISCIPLINE? WHY?

VI. THE MYSTERY OF THE RED SCARF IN SOPHIE’S ROOM (P. 57) WILL APPEAR AGAIN IN THE NOVEL AS A MOTIF. ITS INCLUSION WILL CAUSE GREAT CONFUSION FOR SOPHIE UNTIL SOMETHING MUCH LATER HAPPENS. MORE QUESTIONS ARISE. WHY IS HILDE'S NAME ON THE SCARF?

Read these passages from classical sources, noting how the concept of fate change from Hesiod to the classical period. What did the concept mean originally? Did it evolve?

HESIOD: THEOGONY:

NIGHT BORE THE RUTHLESS...MOIRAI, KLOTHO, LACHESIS, AND ATROPOS, WHO WHEN MEN ARE BORN GIVE THEM THEIR SHARE OF THINGS GOOD AND BAD.
THEY WATCH FOR THE TRANSGRESSIONS OF MEN AND GODS, AND THE DREADFUL ANGER OF THESE GODDESSES NEVER ABATES UNTIL WRONGDOERS ARE PUNISHED WITH HARSHNESS BANEFUL NIGHT BORE NEMESIS, TOO, A WOE FOR MORTALS...

Glossary

Moira--the three fates (a share/phase)
Klotho--the spinner
Lachesis--the measurer
Atropos--who cannot be turned or avoided
Wyrd--click here for a study by A. AE. Hunt-Anschutz

Robert Graves (The Greek Myths I) notes: "The myth seems to be based on the custom of weaving family and clan marks into a newly-born child's swaddling bands, and so allowing him his place in society." (p. 48)
There exists an important Macbeth allusion. Act I, i of course presents the "three weird" sisters" of fate, who according to Banquo might be able to look "into the seeds of time and see which will grow..."

HESIOD: THE SHIELD OF HERCULES:

THERE WERE MEN FIGHTING IN WAR LIKE HARNESSES...AND BEHIND THEM THE DUSKY FATES, GNASHING THEIR WHITE FANGS, LOWERING. GRIM, BLOODY AND UNAPPROACHABLE, STRUGGLED FOR THOSE WHO WERE FALLING. FOR THEY ALL WERE LONGING TO DRINK DARK BLOOD. SO SOON AS THEY CAUGHT A MAN OVERTHROWN OR FALLING NEWLY WOUNDED, ONE OF THEM WOULD CLASP HER GREAT CLAWS ABOUT HIM. AND HIS SOUL WOULD GO DOWN TO HADES...AND WHEN THEY HAD SATISFIED THEIR SOULS WITH HUMAN BLOOD, THEY WOULD CAST THAT ONE BEHIND THEM, AND RUSH BACK INTO THE TUMULT AND FRAY. CLOTHO AND LACHESIS WERE OVER THEM AND ATROPOS LESS TALL THAN THEY, A GODDESS OF NO GREAT FRAME, YET SUPERIOR TO THE OTHERS AND THE ELDEST OF THEM...AND THEY ALL MADE A FIERCE FIGHT OVER ONE POOR WRETCH, GLARING EVILLY AT ONE OTHER WITH FURIOUS EYES AND FIGHTING EQUALLY WITH CLAWS AND HANDS.

HOMER: ILIAD:

THE KING DISMISSED THE PRIEST WITH A BRUTAL ORDER
RINGING IN HIS EARS: NEVER AGAIN OLD MAN
LET ME CATCH SIGHT OF YOU...
THE GIRL: I WON'T GIVE UP THE GIRL...
AGAMEMNON--FURIOUS, HIS DARK HEART FILLED TO THE BRIM,
BLAZING WITH ANGER NOW, HIS EYES LIKE SEARING FIRE
WITH A SUDDEN, KILLING LOOK HE WHEELED ON CALCHAS FIRST:
"SEER OF MISERY...NEVER A WORD THAT WORKS TO MY ADVANTAGE!
ALWAYS MISERY WARMS YOUR HEART, YOUR PROPHECIES...
NOW AGAIN YOU DIVINE GOD'S WILL FOR THE ARMIES
WHY THE DEADLY ARCHER
MULTIPLIES OUR PAINS, BECAUSE I REFUSED THE
GLITTERING PRICE FOR THE YOUNG GIRL CHRYSEIS..
INDEED I PREFER HER...
BUT I AM WILLING TO GIVE HER BACK, EVEN SO,
IT THAT IS BEST FOR ALL. WHAT I REALLY WANT
IF TO KEEP MY PEOPLE SAFE, NOT SEE THEM DYING...(BOOK I)

NO DOUBT SOME MORTAL HAS SUFFERED A DEARER LOSS THAN THIS
A BROTHER BORN IN THE SAME WOMB OR EVEN A SON...
HE GRIEVES, HE WEEPS, BUT THEN HIS TEARS ARE THROUGH.
THE FATES HAVE GIVEN MORTALS HEARTS THAT CAN ENDURE,
BUT THIS ACHILLES--FIRST HE SLAUGHTERS HECTOR.... (BOOK XXIV)

BUT ONCE THE SUN STOOD STRIDING AT HIGH NOON
THEN FATHER ZEUS HELD OUT HIS SACRED GOLDEN SCALES:
IN THEM HE PLACED TWO FATES OF DEATH THAT LAYS MEN LOW
ONE FOR THE TROJAN HORSEMEN, ONE FOR ARGIVES,..
DOWN WENT ACHAEA'S DAY OF DOOM, ACHAEA'S FATE
SETTLING DOWN ON THE EARTH THAT FEEDS US ALL...(BOOK VIII)

AND HOW COULD HECTOR HAVE FLED
THE FATES OF DEATH SO LONG?....
AND BRILLIANT ACHILLES SHOOK HIS HEAD AT THE ARMIES...
THEN FATHER ZEUS HELD OUT HIS SACRED GOLDEN SCALES:
IN THEM HE PLACED TWO FATES OF DEATH THAT LAYS MEN LOW
ONE FOR ACHILLES, ONE FOR HECTOR BREAKER OF HORSES
AND GRIPPING THE BEAM MID-SHAFT THE FATHER RAISED IT HIGH
AND DOWN WENT HECTOR'S DAY OF DOOM, DRAGGING HIM DOWN
TO THE STRONG HOUSE OF DEATH--AND GOD APOLLO LEFT HIM... (BOOK XXII)

[As Zeus wonders whether to save his son Sarpedon from Patrolcus...]

...MY HEART IS TORN IN TWO AS I TRY TO WEIGH ALL THIS
SHALL I PLUCK HIM UP NOW...OR BEAT HIM DOWN AT PATROLCUS...
BUT QUEEN HERA, HER EYES WIDE, PROTESTED STRONGLY
"DREAD MAJESTY, SON OF CRONUS--WHAT ARE YOU SAYING
A MAN, A MERE MORTAL, HIS DOOM SEALED LONG AGE?
YOU'D SET HIM FREE FROM ALL THE PAINS OF DEATH?
DO AS YOU PLEASE, ZEUS...
BUT NONE OF THE DEATH LESS GODS WILL EVER PRAISE YOU... (BOOK XVI)

HOMER: ODYSSEY:

THEN AMONG THEM, THE FATHER OF MEN AND GODS BEGAN TO SPEAK..."LO, YOU NOW, HOW VAINLY MORTAL MEN DO BLAME THE GODS! FOR FROM US THEY SAY COMES EVIL, WHEREAS THEY EVEN OF THEMSELVES THROUGH THE BLINDNESS OF THEIR OWN HEARTS, HAVE SORROWS BEYOND THAT WHICH IS ORDAINED.(BOOK I)

PLATO: THE REPUBLIC:

ROUND ABOUT...SIT THREE OTHER FIGURES, EACH ON A THRONE THE THREE FATES DAUGHTERS OF NECESSITY LACHESIS, CLOTHO AND ATROPOS THEY SING LACHESIS OF THINGS PAST, CLOTHO OF THINGS PRESENT, ATROPOS OF THINGS TO COME. ON THEIR ARRIVAL THE SOULS HAD TO GO STRAIGHT BEFORE LACHEIS , AND AN INTERPRETER FIRST MARSHALED THEM IN ORDER AND TOOK FROM THE LAP OF LACHESIS A NUMBER OF LOTS AND PATTERNS OF LIFE. . . AND PROCLAIMED "THIS IS THE WORLD OF LACHESIS MAIDEN DAUGHTER OF NECESSITY. SOULS OF A DAY HERE YOU MUST BEGIN ANOTHER ROUND OF MORTAL LIFE WHOSE END IS DEATH. YOU SHALL CHOOSE YOUR OWN, AND HE ON WHOM THE LOT FALLS SHALL BE THE FIRST TO CHOOSE THE LIFE WHICH THEN SHALL OF NECESSITY BE HIS...HE FAULT LIES NOT WITH GOD BUT WITH THE SOUL THAT MAKES THE CHOICE... ANYONE WHO DURING HIS EARTHLY LIFE FAITHFULLY SEEKS WISDOM AND WHOSE LOST DOES NOT FALL AMONG THE LAST MAY OPT NOT ONLY FOR HAPPINESS IN THIS LIFE BUT A JOURNEY FROM THIS WORLD TO THE NEXT AND BACK AGAIN THAT WILL NOT LIKE OVER THE STONY GROUND ...(BOOK X)

PLATO: LAWS:

EVEN GOD IS NEVER TO BE SEEN CONTENDING AGAINST NECESSITY.

PLATO: TIMAEUS: [This has been called the most important paragraph in Western Philosphy...Why?]

...BESIDE REASON, WE MUST ALSO SET THE RESULTS OF NECESSITY. FOR THIS WORLD CAME INTO BEING FROM A MIXTURE OF NECESSITY AND INTELLIGENCE. INTELLIGENCE CONTROLLED NECESSITY BY PERSUADING IT FOR THE MOST PORT TO BRING ABOUT THE BEST RESULT, AND IT WAS BY THIS SUBORDINATION OF NECESSITY TO REASONABLE PERSUASION THAT THE UNIVERSE WAS ORIGINALLY CONSTITUTED AS IT IS.

SOPHOCLES: OEDIPUS:

[Oedipus to Creon:]

THE SOUL OF TRUST, MY LOYAL FRIEND FROM THE START
STEALS AGAINST ME...SO HUNGRY TO OVERTHROW ME
HE SETS THIS WIZARD ON ME, THIS SCHEMING QUACK,
THIS FORTUNE TELLER PEDDLING LIES, EYES PEELED
FOR HIS OWN PROFIT--SEER BLIND IN His CRAFT!
COME HERE YOU PIOUS FRAUD. TELL ME
WHEN DID YOU EVER PROVE YOURSELF A PROPHET?
WHEN THE SPHINX ... KEPT HER DEATHWATCH HERE,
WHY SILENT THEN, NOT A WORD TO SET OUR PEOPLE FREE?
NOT A WORD...
THERE WAS A RIDDLE, NOT FOR SOME PASSER-BY TO SOLVE-.
IT CRIED ON FOR A PROPHET? WHERE WERE YOU?
DID YOU RISE TO THE CRISIS? NOT A WORD?
YOU AND YOUR BIRDS, YOUR GODS--NOTHING
NO, BUT I CAME BY, OEDIPUS THE IGNORANT
I STOPPED THE SPHINX. WITH NO HELP FROM THE BIRDS
THE FLIGHT OF MY OWN INTELLIGENCE HIT THE MARK.

STUDY THE TEXTS COMPARATIVELY. WHAT DO YOU CONCLUDE?