# Fate — Poetry character guide

> Fate in Poetry by Fernando Pessoa.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Nature, Fate, not Nature, its

**First appearance:** 0000-35-sonnets

## Who they are

The personified force that men blame for their failures, though the poem insists the will supplies the mirror Fate only seems to fill.

## In the story

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/vii)

Fate is invoked as potentially unjust, and the speaker questions whether an unjust fate's truth can be disbelieved.

### [Chapter XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xi)

Implied as the force behind the storm and the 'driven direction' that guides the ship toward its port.

### [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xix)

Exact Nature who fits beauty and love together as finishing fate.

### [Chapter XXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xxiii)

Implied as the underlying order that makes the thought of absence possible only through presence.

### [Chapter XXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xxv)

Fate is presented as an immanent force that governs and compels human actions.

### [XXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xxviii)

Implied as the force behind the 'great extent' of outward joy and the 'bulk of life' that is dismissed as mere appearance.

### [Chapter XXIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xxix)

Implied as the force that has denied the speaker the power to will and to renounce.

### [XXXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xxxi)

Referenced as 'Nature' and 'her Time,' which the speaker claims to transcend.

### [XXXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xxxiv)

Personified as the agent that curtailed the speaker, contrasted with Nature, and blamed for the internal lack and the deception of free will.

### [Chapter XXXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xxxv)

Fate is invoked as the overarching force that determines all outcomes, including the speaker's failures.

### [English Poems](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/english-poems)

Implied in discussions of destiny and natural forces.

### [Antinous](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/antinous)

Referenced as 'Nature' killing Antinous and as 'Fate' that might mar the statue.

### [Inscriptions](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/inscriptions)

Invoked as the giver of Chloe to the shades, and as the sum of a conqueror's game.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/ii)

The mighty fates who gave the speaker's life and determined their early death.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/v)

Described as the sum of the dice game, the ultimate force in the speaker's conquest.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/vi)

Referenced as absent from the speaker's life, indicating a life without predetermined destiny.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/vii)

Implied in the 'common shadow' that steals from behind, suggesting an inevitable force.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/viii)

Implied as indifferent, neither sparing nor smiling.

### [Chapter XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xi)

Implied force behind the city's wants and the speaker's sacrificial fate.

### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xii)

Implied as the force that lives through humans, directing their actions.

### [Epithalamium](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/epithalamium)

Invoked as 'Nature' that intends the true circle of love and the natural imperative of procreation.

### [XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xviii)

Referenced indirectly as the force behind the 'juice of pleasure’s rage' and the cycle of life.

### [Chapter XX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xx)

Referenced as 'Nature' in the context of intended purpose.

### [XXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/chapters/xxi)

Referenced as 'Nature' from whom the couple naturally have their instincts.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/characters/fate_nature
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_6_se/characters