Oedipus and Antigone Test

1.

If fate is how one’s path is actually determined it would not be possible to alter fate through free will.  In a world where fate controls all, free will can be had in a superficial sense.  What is perceived as choice, would in actuality, be a predetermined decision decided by fate.  There is no way to cheat or change fate because every attempted juke, escape, or evasion is already expected and accounted for by the higher power who determined said destiny.

In a world without fate, where free will governs all, futures can be changed and paths can be adjusted.  If someone desires a car, they can go buy the car they want, if someone wants to climb a mountain, they can try.  However in any instance where free will seems to be determining, it could be argued that fate had planned the choices and results all along.  Even in this free will controlled world wouldn’t certain things still be decided by fate?  Can free will explain a person’s situation at birth?  It must be fate that decides an individual’s initial wealth, poverty, gender, complexion, and background.  However it was the parents of the individual’s choice to procreate.

The real world is likely governed by both free will and fate.  Acts, such as, being lazy, working hard, or being polite are all freely done.  The repercussions from the prior actions is where fate comes in.  For example, if a poor old beggar is graciously taken in, they may pay back the person who housed them if they become successful later on.  It may be free will that makes the person give the beggar a home, but they have no control whether or not the beggar becomes successful, reverts to his former state, or even dies.

2.

It is not usually OK to lie.  In general, the truth will hurt less than lies.  However, there are times when lying is the only option and is the considerate thing to do.  When accused, lying is one of the most viable options, if someone can be thrown under the bus for self benefit it’s easy to do, but this kind of behavior must be avoided for the sake of morality and a clear conscience.

In some cases, lying is best for the conscience.  I have a friend who was caught with various bits of stolen state property.  When caught, he lied, and told the police officer he had stolen all of the merchandise.  In actuality his friends stole the majority of the property and he lied to protect them.  This was a truly selfless act, achieved through lies.

Personally I have been lied to before.  It’s very troubling when a lie is transparent but the truth cannot be known.  Nobody likes to be deceived, when I ask a question I want a truthful answer, not some sugarcoated lie.  Although the truth can be painful, it helps people grow and better themselves.  Even if lying creates less pain initially it will result in misguided growth, which can ultimately destroy a person.

3.

Sigmund Freud’s Oedipus complex is the childhood desire to sleep with one’s mother and kill the father.  The complex is named after an ancient Greek play written by Sophocles where a man by the name of Oedipus, through various twists of fate, ends up killing his father and bedding his mother.  Within the Oedipus complex there is some truth.

The Oedipus complex consists of 5 stages of human sexual development.  Starting with the oral phase and ending with the genital phase.  There is truth to some of these phases, such as the “latency period” when a child’s sexual development is suspended and the focus is more on the assertion of independence.  This stage explains much of the gender separation present within groups of children ranging from ages 7 to 12.  It also parallels with the preteen desire to separate from their parents, especially in public.

However, not all of the Oedipus complex seems like truth.  For example the second and third stages of sexual development where children begin to admire their feces and later find emptying their bladders pleasurable seem questionable.  Young children, when first trained to properly use a toilet are overjoyed at their first poop, Freud says this happiness is due to the fact the child has, “created something of his or her own”.  This assertion is questionable, couldn’t the child’s happiness be due to the fact they completed a task and did something right?  The third stage, when children find urinating pleasurable is also questionable.  The child could simply be happy they are no longer burdened with a full bladder.  Also the child must have experienced urination prior to year 4, they must have understood its usefulness then.

4.

Antigone’s determination and resolve is unmatched within the Theban royalty of the Oedipus trilogy.  Antigone gets the courage to break the law and risk death from her feeling of being inferior due to her looks. She wants to do something that will make her better than her beautiful sister Ismene, who refuses to disobey Creon, also, she felt it right for her brother to be buried.

People follow rules every day.  Many break the law and even sometimes bend it.  At the High School there are many rules.  I frequently break the rule requiring students to carry a hall pass indicating where they are going.  I break it because, quite simply, it is not enforced.  I also see it as unnecessary, why make students, especially well behaved ones, waste time filling out a slip of paper when they’ll be back in 5 minutes?  I don’t just break rules nonchalantly, the rule has to be either worthless or worth breaking for convenience.

One rule I bend is the cell-phone policy, technically students are never supposed to use them over the course of the day.  I figure, as long as I only use it at break, study, and lunch, it should be allowed, as long as it’s not being used disrespectfully in opposition to a specific classroom’s rules.  I only bend rules when they seem a little too strict.  If they serve a purpose, but not all the time, they are worth bending.

I follow many more rules than I break and bend because I understand their respective purposes.  I follow the rule of not using drugs because I understand their malicious potential and why they are banned.  A fair law is one that not only serves a purpose, but can be applied to any situation equally.  An unfair law is one that serves a purpose, but the purpose it serves is either outdated of less important than what it prohibits.