Thursday, December 8, 2011

Oedipus Essay Test

  Question 1 

         Fate is when you believe powers that predetermine events. In my opinion, it is easier for me to believe in fate rather than free will. I also think that free will cannot alter a human being’s fate. People who do believe in free will, however, may think that it can change fate somehow and that it isn’t just simply by luck. A person’s decision cannot change what is already going to occur in the future and thinking that free will is what causes certain events can be futile.
           If my life were to be governed by free will, then I could easily pretend that science is the reasoning of why I am a girl and not a boy. I could say that it was my parent’s free will to decide to hangout that one night and not just fate that they happened to be at the same place. And lastly, I could say that it was my mother’s free will to pick the same hospital where my older siblings were born, for me to be able to take my first breath. It was not fate that brought me in this world, but free will of my parents decisions.
         In the end, I believe that both fate and free will have made me who I am today. For example, the reason I get decent grades in school is because of my free will to do my homework and get it in on time. However, I think that it was fate that gave me the ability to want to be a good student. In my opinion, everything happens for a reason and it isn’t always because of a decision you make.

Question 2

           I strongly believe that honesty is a great quality to obtain. Even though I may not fit that role one hundred percent, I try my best not to lie if it is a huge deal. I admit, there are some instances where I may have lied, in order to save someone from feeling down on themselves. For example, if someone asked me if I liked their new haircut, but in reality I really didn't, I would just say something like, “yeah, it’s cute!” instead of being completely honest and saying, “It’s ugly”. Even I would like my friend to lie to me if I asked them a question like that!
           I’m sure there were many times where I have been lied to in the past, and probably still have no clue about it to this day. There was a time I remember where my friends have lied to me about something a boy did while I was with them, at the time. I understood that my friends were trying to save me from being hurt and I didn’t get mad that them but in reality I would have liked to know the truth. 
          I think that lying is a very tough subject to come about because you’re always told not to when you’re young; however, as I get older, there are some instances where that may not be true. I believe it is OK for someone to lie if it is for the right reasons, that is. Including myself, we all expect everyone to be honest and tell the truth, but sometimes it just doesn’t make sense if it means you are going to hurt someone. Using the truth to intentionally hurt someone else’s feelings is never right.

Question 3

           The Sigmund Freud Oedipus complex states that there is a childhood desire to sleep with the mother and kill the father. This theory was shown dramatically in the play of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, as it was Oedipus’s fate that allowed him to sleep with his mother and murder his father, without knowing so.
            I think that there is some truth the Freud’s complex, but not as dramatic as he depicts it. For example, I think young boys may love their mother and feel like the father is sort of “taking her over”, but a normal young boy would never sleep with the mom and kill his dad because of it. The way Freud states his complex makes it seem as though every little boy experiences this one way or another, but I think that most of what makes up the complex is absurd and disgusting, at that matter.
           An example I can come up with that supports Sigmund Freud’s complex would be when I little boy murders his father. I would go along with the Oedipus complex because it would fill the boy’s desire; however I could never imagine the son killing their father because they want to get with the mom. It is all just disturbing to me and I would never want to think that way!


Question 4

           Antigone is a very strong character and it shows by her actions of not allowing her brother to be left unburied and rot in the sun. She knew it was the right thing to do and she knew it was going to be a challenge but it was worth it to her. She even got the courage to stand up to her brother in law, Creon because she wasn’t going to back out on someone that meant a lot to her.
            Whenever I stand up for something, even knowing that I may get in trouble, I get the courage to do so because I feel so strongly about it. I think that for Antigone it is the same way. I may break rules without even knowing I do because there are so many small and useless ones that I’m sure many people don’t follow one hundred percent. Besides these small and useless rules, there are many others that I follow for safety reasons. For example, I would never just walk out into a street without looking either way or stopping first.
To me, I believe that unfair laws are the ones that my parents assign to me. For example, I have a curfew on the weekdays. I think it is unfair for me to have a curfew not because I want to stay out extremely late on school nights but because I feel I am old enough to make my own decisions. Fair laws are ones that create safety for every human being, for example, it is illegal to do drugs. This doesn’t mean that everyone is going to abide by that rule, but less people are going to actually do it because they know there are consequences if caught.