Blog #2 - Fate vs. Choice/ Oedipus Rex

It's hard to think that I've never given this idea much thought until the last few days, but it's true. Fate vs. Choice. Are things really planned before we take a breath in the world and there is nothing we can do about it, or does each decision every day determine the big picture at the end of the road? The answer is, I'm not entirely sure.

When I was in sixth grade, I made the decision out of nowhere to watch The Phantom of the Opera. I knew little to nothing of the story. I did not even know that the lead female shared my name. The day after watching this movie, I bought the soundtrack. The week after watching this movie, I started voice lessons. Today, voice has made an extremely big impact on my life. However, this is where Fate vs. Choice leaves me stumped. Was it fate that I was supposed to watch this movie and realize one of my life's passions, or through a series of choices did I stumble upon voice and music? After much thought, I think that even if I would have never seen this particular movie, fate one way or the other would bring me to discover that I love singing. However, I think it's through a series of choices that voice has become such an important part of my life.

Let me explain. When I said that "fate one way or the other would bring me to discover that I love singing," I speak this for anyone who has a passion or talent for anything. Each of us has a knack for something, and it would only be a matter of time before fate brings us to something that we naturally have a knack for and enjoy doing. This is because day to day we discover new things about ourselves, and in these discoveries, we learn what our individual 'knacks for life' are. Whether it was when I was twelve or if it would have been ten years from now, I was fated to learn that I loved singing because it's a part of myself, whether discovered or not.

Although I do believe that fate brought me to learn about something I enjoy, I believe that it was through a series of choices that I made voice such an important part of my life. Although we will all learn what we're naturally good at or love to do over the years, we are the sole deciders of what is important in our lives. I'm also an avid reader of historical fiction, I love writing poetry, I'm a moderate video-gammer, and I love watching critically acclaimed movies. In these loves I could have decided to become a film critic, or a writer, or a publisher, or even a video-game designer, but I didn't. I made the choice that is was voice that I wanted to dedicate myself the most too. I decided on my own what was the most important for my lifestyle and priorities.

Before I indulge on my thoughts about Oedipus Rex, let me make one thing clear about my views on fate. In the things that I believe are fated, I do not believe that someone should just sit around and wait for fait to happen. We should all continue to live our lives to the fullest, regardless of fate is part of the plan or not. Fate should never be an excuse to think that we do not have to work for how our lives turn out.

With everything being said, my personal views are completely different than what I think Sophocles had intended for the Thebian play Oedipus Rex. The first thing I think of when I hear the name Oedipus, is "Poor guy." No matter what he does, the hereditary curse of his family will follow him. Fate will lead him to his prophesied end. There is one main reason for this. Regardless of how life-like Oedipus Rex is as a character, he is living in a world created by Sophocles. In this world, the ending won't waver, won't falter. Sophocles believed in fate, and in his believe Oedipus meets his 'doom'. Sophocles lived in a world where the religion was driven by what prophecies the oracles or gods had given. The prophecies are another way of saying, "you're unchangable fate." Therefore, Oedipus, no matter what he did, would not escape his fate. The world he lived in and the world of the writer bother govern this.

-CAR