So, as I'm sure you've all caught on by now, I'm obsessed with the idea of fate and free will. How do they work together, how can they work together, does free will exist? If something has been prophesied then to what extent do we have free will if any? All of these questions were aroused once more when we read Oedipus, Aeschylus, and Augustine. Oedipus and Aeschylus deal with the question of unavoidable fate when there end is prophesied. In Oedipus, his destiny is said to be that he will murder his father and marry his mother. He does everything in his power to avoid it yet he ends up causing it! If he hadn't acted would the same thing have happened? I believe yes, somehow, someway, he still would have ended up in the same situation due to the fact that his fate was foretold.
Aeschylus deals with this on a subtler scale, yet it's there all the same. When Agamemnon's father, Atreus, commits his crime at Thyestes Feast, his two son's fates are sealed as well. It is said that the father's crimes will come back and visit the sons. Menelaus and Agamemnon go off to fight the Trojan War which their people were dead set against. In order to leave and set sail, Agamemnon sacrifices his own flesh and blood to gain wind. Menelaus is lost at sea, his whereabouts unknown and Agamemnon returns home to be murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra. However, all of this is fine because of the fate that was sealed by their father! Had Atreus not committed cannibalism against his brother, would his sons fates be any different?! Finally we have Augustine, who I have no idea what to do with. (Actually getting past the first 3 books might help).
No comments:
Post a Comment