Since we are in between books in AP English this week, I had to think for awhile about what to write about for my blog entry. I was looking through my English folder and I saw the questions that we answered before reading Oedipus, and I was curious to see what other people thought on the questions and if any of there opinions have changed on them.
Obviously one of the main ideas of the play is fate, and how it does or does not control everything. Fate is the biggest argument brought up in Oedipus, and there are points in the play that can be presented for both sides of the argument. To support that there is a fate one can say that he got his oracle from Apollo and the oracle came true so there must be fate, very straight forward. For arguments against fate people can say that he controlled everything he did, and that he could have chosen to just not marry or kill anyone, problem solved.
I can see it argued both ways, and I know people can present strong arguments for both, but I think that the paper we read in class one day by a professor presented that answer, at least for Oedipus. The professor said that just because there was a fate chosen for him, it did not mean that he was not free to go about accomplishing that fate however he wanted. I think that the professor is absolutely right, and that Apollo merely gave Oedipus an ending point, but Oedipus also had a little bit of free will involved in his life. That argument kind of meshes both sides together to form a big compromise. It leaves parts of both arguments in the final conclusion.
Personally, outside of Oedipus, I do not believe that there is a fate or divine plan for any one of us, and that where we end up in life is a direct result from the choices we make during our life. It is a very interesting topic to argue about, since there is no exact proof, and I would love to hear someone else’s opinion on it, so let me know.
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Personally, I agree with your idea that fate doesn't really work outside of Oedipus. I think that everything is left up to chance. However, if we think about when Oedipus was created, fate played a major part in society. Which shows how far our notions in terms of fate have come.
ReplyDeleteI agree that no one has fate. I believe that everyone chooses how their life will be lived. I feel that in Oedipus, he had the decision to not get married or kill anyone. But because he was so fixated on what the oracle had said, it pretty much drew him toward everything that happened. If he hadn't known about what the oracle decided for his fate, Oedipus wouldn't have married his mother or killed his father.
ReplyDeleteI Agree with chelsee. Oedipus was so focus on avoiding the oracle, he actually ran straight into. There is two ways to think of this situation, one that it was his fate to complete the oracle, or his free will that lead him to do what the oracle asked of him. In my opinion i think it is free will and that no one has a fate.
ReplyDeleteI agree that fate doesn't exactly exist. We choose our own path in life, and although some chalk that up to "fate", it's really just how we choose what we are going to do. I think sometimes we refer to our actions & choices/things that happen as "fate" because it's easier than trying to figure out why they actually happened or to explain them. It's all in how you look at it, but maybe fate and free-will aren't actually all that different? In my opinion and thoughts, they're not. But, like I said, it's all in how you look at it.
ReplyDeleteI mostly agree. Oedipus was probably going to follow the oracle no matter what he did. Trying to avoid fate actually made him run right into it. However there are other incidents where fate has occurred. Most have to do with the Bible. I think the most memorable one is Judas. People blame Judas for the death of Jesus, but he was always the one who was going to betray him. I believe that, that is fate. However fate does not happen often in the real world. I agree that you can change your own destiny by making choices.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you guys, if Oedipus wasn't so worried about avoiding his fate and running from it, maybe his life would be completely different. However if fate does exist, there is no way anyone has a say in what will happen in their life, it just seems crazy to me that everything is all set in place for us and that we cannot control what will happen. As for Oedipus, I think that fate was strongly believed in back then and the Sophocles wrote a play on it.
ReplyDeleteI dont believe in fate. I think there are striking coincidences at times but I think fate is just something people like to blame their failures on. I think Oedipus was a touchy person and completely in control of his actions. I say he's touchy because he seems to get angry very quickly, for example when he unknowingly killed his own father. The king mearly wanted Oedipus to step off the road for a second, and is that really so hard to do? But Oedipus had to kill him just for suggesting the idea. I think everything Oedipus did was of his own free will.
ReplyDeleteYeah, i think sometimes people use "fate" as an excuse for why things happen. But I think that things that seem to be a product of fate are just things bound to occur when everyone has to power to make their own decisions. And no matter what higher power you believe in there is no real possibility it can take away your own free will. In Oedipus' case he made some argubly bad decisions which led him to fulfil his own fortold "fate".
ReplyDeleteI think the story of Oedipus is an example of a self fulfilling prophecy. It was only because Oedipus' parents were so frightened of the prophecy that they sent him away. If they hadn't done that, he never would have unwittingly killed his father on that road and he would've known that the queen was actually his mother and wouldn't have married her. Now there is a chance that these things might have happened anyway, no one can really say for sure, but it really does seem unlikely.
ReplyDeleteI, actually, believe in fate. I believe we are sent here to Earth to do a certain job and that every little thing we do helps us to accomplish that job we need to do so I think its fate that leads our life and that every little thing we do is to accomplish that job. There has to be some reason why we were born!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with what josh is talking about. Some people do use fate as an excuse for something. They blame their place in life on fate and not their own personal choices. While this side of fate isn't seen as much in Oedipus, it still brings in the controversy of fate versus free will. Oedipus couldve stayed in the country rather than actually entering the city of Thebes, however, this wouldve made the story of Oedipus less interesting.
ReplyDeleteSurprise surprise, I too agree with mitch that fate does not exist and Oedipus had his own free will in chosing his own destiny. He could have easily chosen not to get married and not to kill the men on the trail but instead he did and because of that, it seemed as though he was following his own fate and everything was predetermined for him but in my opinion it was all up to him and not fate.
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