What exactly is the theme of this story? Looking around other sites, a major theme has something to do with free will but I still don't quite understand. From what I understand, the poem is saying...

Question

What exactly is the theme of this story? Looking around other sites, a major theme has something to do with free will but I still don't quite understand.

From what I understand, the poem is saying that we are bound to a certain fate and that we have no free will. This lack of free will is directly shown through Zeus raping Leda, where rape is an action where the victim submits to the attacker's will.

The last question,

"Being so caught up,

So mastered by the brute blood of the air,

Did she put on his knowledge with his power

Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?"

I am having extreme difficulty understanding what the point of this is in relation to the idea of free will/fate. So if the knowledge of the future and Trojan War DID pass on to her, then she wouldn't be bound by fate and could change it by killing her child if she wanted to?

Help would be much appreciated.

Answer 1 · 2013-09-26T14:45:59+00:00

the idea that yeats had is dt history is cyclic i.e. history repeats itself in every 2000 yrs. ,human history changes or so....and acc. 2 him if a gr8 change is abt 2 come , it has 2 lead after some violent action and here in this sonnet, the rape of leda by the swan (zeus)is not a change but the violent action whose outcome will bring about the change as after d rape 2 eggs came out out of wch 4m fst egg 2 twin brothers (castor and pullox) came and 4m 2nd egg (helen and clytemnestra ) came who later became d wives of menelaus and agaememnon resp. and thus the whole battle of troy happens coz of helen and the history of troy changed ..... and thus giving the idea that history cahnges to bring newness ......and this newness could only b brought by sufferings(violence)..

i hope my answer satisfies u....

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