Like a Colossus; and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs, and peep about

To find ourselves dishonorable graves

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

This familiar quotation was taken from the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. Although this quote is over 400 years old I agree with the author when he writes, "Men at some time are masters of their fates". This quotation suggests that people have a fate chosen for them but they can do certain things to modify that chosen fate. This is why I think that people, except when other wills are involved, are masters of their own fate.

Others might say that Shakespeare is wrong and that people have no power over their own fates. They might take this position because they think that people, like the character Okonkwo from Things Fall Apart, do not have control over their fates because they might say that Okonkwo did not have control over his exile. These people are wrong because as we can see through literature, philosophy and

From literature, philosophy and history we hear an innumerable amount of answers to the question of whether people control their own fate. Out of all these answers only one is correct and that is that people do control their own fate. Observe the knowledgeable words for Shakespeare, or the inspiring thoughts of the American writer, poet, and journalist Ella Wheeler Wilcox, who once wrote, "There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul." Saying that no matter what a person's fate is, it stands no chance against their will to do something.

Another area philosophy that can be related to the question of whether or not we control our fates is Nietzsche's. In his philosophy Nietzsche said that the way to get where you want to be is through blood, sweat and tears. Another way of wording this is that the only way you are going to do what you want to get done is by putting all your effort into doing it. The Germans used this philosophy during World War One to inspire support among their country by saying that, although it seemed impossible, their country could take on anything if they put enough effort into doing it. This relates to Nietzsche's philosophy because the militarism in Germany made people believe that the only way that they would get what they wanted was by using force.

Some common words found in the essay are:
World War, Rex Sophocles, Unoka Okonkwo's, William Shakespeare, Accompanying Spencer, Herbert Spencer, Question Fate, Fall Apart, Julius Caesar, Wheeler Wilcox, control own, own fate, people control own, people control, control own fate, own fates, control own fates, world war, fate people, previous experiences, people avoided fate, william shakespeare, play julius caesar, julius caesar, oedipus choice,
Approximate Word count = 1392
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)