How much agency and responsibility do you think Ariadne and Phaedra have over their choices, and how much are they manipulated by the gods and Fates?

The tension between fate and free will runs throughout this novel. How much agency and responsibility do you think Ariadne and Phaedra have over their choices, and how much are they manipulated by the gods and Fates? 

I don’t think they had any choice in deciding a course of action. Not so much to do with fate but the but the overall suppression of women

If Fate is a predetermined destiny, and Free Will is the ability to interfere with fate, then it appears that Ariadne exercised her free will in making her choices. She chose to help Theseus learn the intricacies of the labyrinth; she chose to go with him to the island. She continues even amidst adversity to make similar self-driven choices. Phaedra, while she was rebellious in actions as a youth, her actions seemed a mixture of Fate and Free Will. She played out her role married to Theseus, bore children, did what was expected or her, but, she also inserted herself into ruling functions in which women had not previously been involved. Once in a position to exert power, she displayed more of her original free will in the process of taking control.

Agency exists for them within a limited scope; what is so different from today? Whether female or male, we all have limits on our agency - some more than others.

I am not a huge believer in Fate, only in the results of our own choices. That was apparent with every character.

One could argue that their naiveties are a result of men and ultimately then too men took advantage of them because they were naive. They made choices but I think that their experiences made it so that they were not equipped to be making those decisions at least not with the hopes of making good ones.

Fate is to me another word for life-defining circumstances beyond our individual control, whether due to a moment’s chance event, or by centuries of legal contraints upon groups of people.

In ancient Greece (and in many cultures today) women were basically the property of whatever male relative was responsible for them, or else their husbands, who were chosen for them. So they had no meaningful choices or even control over their own bodies (unless like Phaedra they committed suicide). Their “fate” was governed by their gender. And by the status of the men they “belonged” to; most men did not have many choices either, if not born into the ruling class. And this is still true for so many today, even in America.

Despite that, Ariadne and Phaedra (and the maenads)show us that as human beings we always have choices in how to respond to what “fate” deals us, in our own hearts and minds at least, even if there are no options within the circumstances. We can control our attitudes and that can determine whether we spot and take advantage of opportunities to make even small actions to help ourselves. “Fate” does not control everything; the “gods” of the myths certainly could not and did not!

Ariadne’s choices within her narrow sphere of action, in helping and eloping with Theseus, leading to her abandonment on Naxos, defy the pattern of male domination for women of her time—perhaps that was why her story became a central myth (like Antigone). When she could have chosen to throw herself off a cliff, she did not; she “persisted” and eventually found a good life with a better husband. She chose to involve herself and encourage his feud with Perseus, with all that followed.

Phaedra could have chosen to keep her feelings for Hippolytus to herself; ultimately she chose to end her life to escape the consequences of her foolish action.

So while their life choices were limited by the “fate” of their gender and family, by the “gods” ( Poseidon’s punishment of Minos by destroying Pasiphae, her giving birth to the Minotaur), still Ariadne and Phaedra are responsible for their actions.

The gods certainly did interfere in the lives of humans but sometimes they got blamed for choices that people made. Theseus tried to blame the gods for his choice to leave Ariadne on Naxos. Of course Theseus was a rotten liar throughout the story.
So did the sisters make at least some decisions, how can we be sure?

In that time and age, women had little to no agency in their own lives. They were confined to the roles given them. The gods used that to their advantage, taking their punishments out on the women though the men had caused the offense. Call it jealousy on the part of Hera and the other gods, or revenge. It ends up the same--women paying for others' sins. Ariadne gained some of her power back in the end when she chose to stand up and beg for forgiveness and mercy. Phaedra got some back when she chose how her story would end. But both women were severely impaired by their station.

On one level Ariadne and Phaedra exercise some limited agency when they act outside of their proscribed cultural roles; on another level, one could argue that even when they thought they were making choices, the gods were controlling their actions to effect a predetermined outcome. I think their agency comes into play when they make conscious, intentional decisions, regardless of their attention to the desires of the gods. The outcome may be the same, but the intent of the character is different.

I'm going against the flow, but I felt that they had agency. Yes, life on Crete was despicable, but they made the choice to aid Theseus in killing the Minotaur. The female character that I felt was manipulated and used by Minos and Poseidon was Pasiphae. I felt sympathy for Ariadne and Phaedra, but I can't say that that they had no choice in what happened.

I do not think that Adriadne and Phaedra did not have much agency over the choices they made. They had to figure out a way on how to make the best of what Fate and Gods did to them. Their responsibility seems to be how the can make the best of any the situations they found themselves in and be aware of what was happening around them and figure out what was in the hearts of others.