Thursday, October 25, 2012

Oedipus Rex: Fate v. Free Will

 
 

In the group discussions today in class, I saw a lot of new perspectives on certain topics that I didn't see beforehand. A large issue that my group discussed was whether Oedipus was driven by fate or free will. Oedipus met his father at a three way street and killed him and a few others. I believe this was driven by free will. He was angry and his frustration led him to murder by choice. That is something that humans have control of. We consciously decide to kill someone or not. I do believe that it was fate that brought the two of them together at that specific time and place. They were each Kings of cities and it would have been difficult for them to run into each other by free will. I think today that people are driven by both fate and free will. We consciously make decisions but I believe that sometimes fate leads us to those decisions. Oedipus was lead to his father, but makes the choice out of free will to kill him. I think that it was fates that lead him to solve the riddle and become the new King. But, it was free will that he slept with his mother. That is a choice one person makes and has control over. Ultimately, fates lead him to the specific destinations, but it was free will that created the end results.

1 comment:

  1. I think your take on the fate vs free will discussion is very insightful! Another example of fate I came across while reading was that Oedipus went down the road to Thebes. He could have chosen the other road to another town, but fate led him to Thebes.

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