Monday, January 4, 2010
Guest Blogger - Megan S.
I know we have done quite a bit with the fate vs. free will debate on Oedipus the King, but I will continue the debate here in my blog. I’m on the fence with this one. A very good point was brought up in the fishbowl discussions; Sophocles didn’t write Oedipus the King to prove fate or free will. The whole idea of Oedipus trying to run from his prophecy and ending up fulfilling it unknowingly being classified as fate or free will was an afterthought brought up by readers. When the play was written, there wasn’t even a distinction between the two. Oedipus leaving Corinth in order to out run his prophecy of killing his own parents is kind of like the idea of the saying “I’ve got a bullet with my name on it, and I’m just trying to dodge it” that you here from people fighting long term illnesses, etc. He was told it was coming, and tried to outsmart it. It pretty much proves the saying “you can run, but you can’t hide.” Some view that as fate, others see it as total coincidence. He ran from the prophecy, but it out ran him. Fate can’t take all of the blame for Oedipus’ actions though. He killed a man, and that was his choice. Whether he knew it was the King/his father or not isn’t the point, it’s the fact that he killed 5 men, including King Laius. Murder is murder. Fate doesn’t make you a murderer, no one makes you do it. Oedipus killing the men was his own choice, not fate’s choice. He could have just kept going on down the road, but he chose to kill the men. Yes, maybe there was some fate in running across the King on that road, but it also contained some free will. Oedipus was searching for the murderer, when in fact he was searching for himself. Ask yourself this, fate or free will?
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I think that Oedipus chose free will in his life. Sure, there were some pretty unusual circumstances but still, he chose to search for Laius' murderer and he chose to leave his village before killing Laius. After all, fate didn't hold the staff as he killed Laius, and it certainly didn't tell him to sleep with his mother.
ReplyDeleteI believe the only part that fate had was that Oedipus believed the oracle that was told to him. If Oedipus hadn't been so frightened by that prophecy, he wouldn't have left home, killed Laius, married his mother and so on. After all, i choose not to forward emails, even when i'm told i won't find love for seven years or whatever. tactic is to scare the reader into believing it. The belief in oracles is what truly sealed his future.
ReplyDeleteBefore we read Oedipus, I always thought that people had the free will to make their own choices, and that there wasn't any such thing as fate. However, all of the creepy coincidences in the story kind of made me think about my belief. I still believe in free will, though, if only because I know that Oedipus' story is fictional. All of the "coincidences" were created for the story, and a story like his doesn't really occur in real life.
ReplyDeleteA story like this doesn't occur in real life anymore because very few people believe in personal oracles anymore. If you were told your fate by some prophet and you did not want it to come true, you would try to avoid it just like Oedipus did. In my opinion, it was his free will that made the oracle come true not fate.
ReplyDeleteI believe that all of Oedipus' actions were based on free will. Although I will admit I cannot explain him meeting his father randomly, I do think that Oedipus' character flaws are what caused him to kill his father, not fate. Also, his parents are the ones who brought upon their deaths. Had they not gotten rid of Oedipus after they heard the reading from the oracle, they might have actually had a chance at living by keeping an eye on him.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think free-will. I really didn't see a "grand-master plan" that brought Oedipus to his doom: he brought it upon himself when he killed the five men on the road. The rest was just the consequences that followed, like Meg said, "Murder is murder". I just think of it this way; take this blog post. I was not fated to do it a day before it was due, it was my own personal choices that led to my post being this late. There was no huge plan that led up to this, because I knew exactly what would happen if I waited this long.
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