Compare the role fate played in "The Monkey's Paw," by W.W. Jacobs and “Antigone” by Sophocles.

Fate plays a central role in both W.W. Jacob's short
story, "The Monkey's Paw," and in Sophocles' play, "Antigone." In "The Monkey's Paw,"
the Sergeant-Major's comments that the curse on the paw was placed there by a
"fakir," "...a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives." This
presents, then, the premise that regardless of what happens with the wishes one makes
with the paw, that fate has the final say—not the one who makes the
wish. When the Whites' son is killed the following day, the family receives the money
they wished for, but it comes in a tragic way—in compensation for the son death at work.
What the couple forgets is that the young man's
fate was to die,
NOT that the wishing for the money caused his death. It seems to
them that the paw brought the money by causing the son's death.
They also both believe that the paw can also
return their son to them. Mrs. White fervently wishes her son be
brought back to her, though Mr. White believes it a terrible idea,
sure their boy will be returned to them as he died. We are never sure if the paw really
works: there is a knocking on the door to represent the return of
the now long-dead, mangled body of their son; and, there is the emptiness when the door
is opened as Mr. White wishes the son stay dead and
buried.

In Sophocles' "Antigone," Creon (the King after
Oedipus, and Antigone's uncle) is angry because Antigone has tried to bury her brother,
which Creon outlawed, as Creon considers Polyneices an enemy of the state. He orders
that Antigone (who is also to marry his son Haemon) is to be put to death for breaking
his law. Everyone pleads for Creon to change his mind: Ismene, Antigone's sister;
Haemon; even the soothsayer, Teiresias, who warns the King that if he continues, he will
lose his son, and great "calamity" will befall Thebes. Creon refuses to listen to any
reason. Antigone is fated to die. For even after Creon changes his mind, he finds that
Antigone killed herself, Haemon, also, because of her death, and finally Eurydice
(Creon's wife) because of her son's death.

As with "The
Monkey's Paw," Creon tries to "fix" what has been done, but it is too late. Once
Teiresias issues his warning and Creon does not comply, is sealed: she is going to die,
and this is Antigone's fate. There is nothing Creon can do once he
passes his sentence upon her.