In Oedipus the King, Oedipus
challenges his fate and tries to escape the binding prophecies of the Oracles
that warn him that he is destined to murder his father and marry his mother;
how relatable is Oedipus to any of us? This question was brought up in class
and it made me consider how psychologically related human beings are, even
across thousands of years. The concept of fate still lingers in our minds as we
make large decisions that could be permanently life changing or even small decisions
that will are so insubstantial that they will flit from our heads immediately
after processing them. Oedipus’ life, similar to our own, is composed of a
multitude and small, intermediate, and large choices that all ultimately lead
him to the Oracles’ prophecies coming true despite his desperate attempts at
fleeing. When confined to a certain path
for our lives, do we still tend to deviate from the road ahead? Personally, the
idea of a set fate is much too constricting for me to mentally process, and I
would be just as anxious as Oedipus to escape my fated prison. Prince Harry of
Wales has been prestigiously raised among royalty with impressive erudition and
esteemed company, then why did he grow to be such an extravagant partier and
unorthodox Prince? Perhaps, his fate, the legacy of the crown, was too much for
him and he wanted to escape that course, similar to Oedipus, to avoid the
possibility of disappointing the millions of people admiring him. The concept
of murdering your father and marrying your mother may not be relatable, but the
fundamental idea of avoiding your fate may not be far from how humans live their
lives today.
We also
see confined women in the Middle East challenge their fate. These women are
destined to be subservient to abusive men, but are finally joining together to
show a glimpse of a gender revolution. They are testing their fate by speaking
up about their need for respect and protection for their dignity. By growing up
in this society they are predestined to serve men as if they are genetically
modified to be their inferiors, however now they are showing a resistance to
their previously weak future. Oedipus was striving to do what he thought was
right. He knew that murdering his father and marrying his mother were despicable
acts and sought to remove himself from the situation to protect this name and
the futures of his children, but with the intervention of the gods, he never
had much of a chance. Americans do not live in a society as predetermined and
rigid as the Ancient Greeks’, but there are still cultures that use ancestral
identity to measure the worth of an individual. The English Monarchy, although
it no longer holds much power in the English Parliament or Government at
present, is still determined by lineage, not merit. People endeavor to
challenge their fate.
Psychologically
we are still similar to Oedipus and his strife. I disagree with Freud in that
this connection is in our latent desire to replace our father or mother to take
their place with their spouse as described in his Oedipus or Electra Complexes.
I think that humans are biologically driven to find control. If we lack
freedom, we search for it. If we have freedom, then we become more ambitious
and search for power. Humans want to feel in control of their future, which is
why fate even interests us. The question of fate is unanswerable, and humans
cannot have control of that.
