Person vs. Fate Plots: 3 Examples in Popular Literature

Person vs. fate (or character vs. fate) is a type of conflict in literature where the main character fights against a prediction or fortune from a god, oracle, or supernatural entity. Famous examples of the person vs. fate conflict include stories in ancient Greek mythology and Shakespearean plays. While many variations exist, the most traditional version involves a character who hears a prophecy about their future and spends the rest of the story trying to avoid it, only to make it come to pass unwittingly.

Other literary conflicts include person vs. person, person vs. society, person vs. nature, and person vs. self conflicts. Academics break these up into external conflicts (battles initiated outside the character) and internal conflicts (struggles fought in the character’s psyche).

Historically, academics described these conflicts using the word “man” (e.g., man vs. fate, man vs. self, man vs. man, man vs. society, or man vs. nature), but now use the gender-neutral “person” instead. Another variation is to use the word “character” (as in character vs. society or character vs. nature).

The person vs. fate structure is a straightforward yet effective character conflict. Try these writing tips to help you craft a person vs. fate plot:

1. 1. Create the character. The main character is a crucial part of the person vs. fate story since they are the protagonist who struggles to avoid the inevitable. Spend time developing your character, deciding their strengths and weaknesses, interests, hopes, and dreams.
2. 2. Decide on the fate. The second most important element of the person vs. fate plot is the fate or the state or outcome your character hopes to avoid. If you decide this fate early on, you’ll have a strong idea of what your character is working against (or accidentally working toward). This fate can be a supernatural force (like a prophecy) or a real-world personal outcome, like a role the character inevitably steps into despite their efforts to avoid it.
3. 3. Determine the character’s relationship to their fate. A person vs. fate story can avoid the most obvious path, and many variations play with the character’s relationship to their fate. The most traditional person vs. fate plot involves a character who hears a prediction of their future and spends the rest of the story trying to avoid it, only to make it come to pass unwittingly. However, you can play with this formula and subvert readers’ expectations. You can imagine a scenario where your character ignores the fortune or feels it foretells good luck rather than bad. Or you can craft a storyline where the protagonist is unaware of the prophecy, and the fortune serves as a kind of dramatic irony for the readers.
4. 4. Design obstacles the character attempts to overcome. In a conflict-driven story, a character encounters barriers that get in the way of their desires. For a traditional person vs. fate conflict, the character struggles to avoid their fate, and many obstacles prevent them from evading it. Brainstorm obstacles, looking to real-life conflicts for inspiration.
5. 5. Consider possibilities for the ending. In a traditional person vs. fate plot, readers often guess how the story ends, predicting the character’s fate inevitably comes true. As you work on your story, consider different endings and choose one based on your desired effect. You can follow the traditional formula or surprise readers with an unexpected twist. Determine if your story has a tragic ending or a happy one.

From science fiction to realistic short stories, writers of all genres use the person vs. fate device to craft their story. Here are a few examples of character vs. fate in plays and film:

1. 1. Macbeth: William Shakespeare played with the person vs. fate trope in Macbeth by introducing new kinds of conflicts and offering a fortune that the character actually wants. In the play, Macbeth receives a prophecy that he will become the king of Scotland. Encouraged, it drives him to kill the current king and seize the throne. As the play continues, Macbeth becomes paranoid and begins killing more people to secure his place before dying at the hands of Macduff.
2. 2. Oedipus Rex: A prototypical person vs. fate narrative, Oedipus Rex is an ancient Greek tragedy written by the playwright Sophocles. In the play, Oedipus reveals a prophecy he heard when he was young that predicted he would kill his father and marry his mother—a classic example of fate as a supernatural conflict. To avoid the prophecy, he fled his hometown and married Jocasta. However, as the play unfolds, the audience discovers that Oedipus was an abandoned child, and—now grown—he discovers his birth parents are Queen Jocasta and the late King Laius, who he killed, fulfilling the prophecy. This moment of recognition or revelation in the story is an example of anagnorisis.
3. 3. The Godfather: Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola adapted Mario Puzo’s novel of the same name for his blockbuster Hollywood film, and The Godfather is a strong example of a contemporary twist on the person vs. fate formula. While many traditional person vs. fate stories involve a supernatural element, The Godfather is an example of the conflict in realistic fiction. In the story, the main character, Michael Corleone, is outspoken about his desire to avoid becoming part of his family’s crime legacy. As the movie progresses, viewers realize Michael is slowly succumbing to his fate as the eventual head of the Mafia family, even as he works to avoid it.

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