What you don't know won't hurt you...

Sometimes Truth has a very uncanny probability that it will cause more harm than good.  I would say that Truth is ultimately good because anything other than the truth is known as deception, and deceptive behaviors thrive on lies.  Therefore, that which is true is more coveted than that which is full of deceit.  In Oedipus' case, Truth promoted pain and regret; however, if Oedipus had known Truth sooner, then it is obvious that his fate could have been altered.  Truth was the ultimate source of good for Oedipus, but ignorance proved to be his ultimate demise.  Eventually, his fate became inevitable, and he chose to react to his interaction with Truth.  Although his destiny was stained by the blood of his father, Oedipus did fulfill his prophesied fate.  The bigger question is whether fate is an individual direction for life or a cluster of interchangeable paths that are selected by the decisions made in life.  If this is true, then perhaps Oedipus could have received knowledge in a more mature manner and spared himself the pain.

Doomed to Fate

Although it can't really be argued whether or not Oedipus killed the king, I couldn't help but feeling sorry for him at how his situation turned out. Every single person that knew about the prophesy except the one shepherd that had pity for Oedipus did all they could to avoid the fate that the prophesy spoke of. Yet no matter how hard Oedipus tried to do the right thing, he could not escape that fate. When I first read this I could not help but think that this is simply unfair, that no matter what one does  in life, nothing they do can change what will inevitably happen. Still, that got me thinking. Does it work the same way for us? I know that question opens up a massive debate on predestination and free will and the space time continuum and that sort of thing, so I won't even go down that road. But one thing that this story did remind me of was at the end of the republic when Socrates tells the story of Er. When everyone is gathered in the common place and picks their new fate, that is it. No changing, no trading, no doing nothing except intentionally or unintentionally seeing that fate through to the day you die. I couldn't help but laugh for a second that if this was true for Oedipus, then man did he mess that decision up. Either way, I am a firm believer that this sort of thing is exactly what we as humans are not intended nor able to understand. Whatever will happen will happen, but we still make the choices.

Fate

                Certainly a major theme throughout this semester in honors English has been the topic of fate.  In Homer's writing Achilles may choose his fate, but once he takes a path, it cannot be changed.  God sets people's fate in the Old Testimate, but does not always reveal how someone will reach His end goal.  Even in Republic, Plato says that some people made of gold and silver metals should be fated to rule, and that others must be ruled over.  The idea of people's lives being acted on by a higher power has always been a very popular topic and still is today.

                Now, in our reading about Oedipus we see even more having to do with fate.  In this story we come to understand just how powerful, binding, and inescapable fate truly is.  The king, queen, and Oedipus all try to find ways to escape the terrible prophesy told to them by the seer, but their efforts are all in vein.  However, the three did try as hard as they could to escape their fate.  The parents tie up the feet of their child and leave him to die, and Oedipus leaves who he believes to be his true parents and travels as far away from them as he possibly could.  No matter what they do, the prophesy comes true.

                My question is, there seems to be all sorts of different variations of fate.  Some can be changed or are less powerful, and then there are ones like the one in this story who can't change their fate no matter what they do.  So are there different types of fate, or just one level or variation.  I think there must be different intensities of fate, because how else come some people be able to change it and others not.  Could it be that it is just up to the writer?  I just think it's interesting how different stories about fate can be.

I commented on Emily LaForce's blog "The White Suite"

-Susan Berner

Outrunning Fate Part 2

So we have seen throughout all the Greek writings that fate is highly important.  No matter how hard you try, you cannot outrun fate.  Every characters attempt, especially in the Oedipus play, always fails without a doubt.  For example, in the Oedipus play every time a character attempted to change their fate it only pushed it more forward to actually happening.  I wonder if the characters stopped trying to actually change their fate and embraced it or were more careful about their fates maybe it might actually change on it's own.  I say this because if Oedipus's parents actually kept him knowing he was fated to kill his own parents and marry his mother then all that probably would not have happened.  If Oedipus grew up with his actual parents and then moved out when he got older because he realized his fate then he would not have wound up marrying his own mother.  He also may not have killed his parents, but that is just an assumption.  However, like I said in a previous post about outrunning fate that no matter how brave or important you are, if you are handed a bad fate you will fight as hard as possible to change it even if it means sending your own child away like Jocasta did or moving away from your supposed parents like Oedipus did.  

Also, if Jocasta's husband died and she knew her son was fated to marry his mother and Oedipus knowing he was fated to marry his mother why would they get remarried/married?  For Oedipus's sake he was unaware that his mother wasn't actually his biological mother, but I would have been a little bit more careful if I was given that sort of fate.  Jocasta attempted this by trying to keep Oedipus from finding out the truth but by that point it was already too late.  I guess it goes to show that humans are terrible at embracing their fate.  I almost feel like the whole point of fate is to try to disprove it only to make it actually happen.  If Hector actually fought Achilles instead wearing himself out by running around a wall three or four times maybe he would have actually won, but that wasn't his fate. Unfortunately, to Oedipus's dismay his fate eventually came true just like Hector's.


p.s. commented on emilylaforce's The White Suit

Knowledge of Fate

We say ignorance is bliss, and to an extent, I agree. I question what would have happened if Oedipus had never learned the true identity of his parents. Though Jocasta seemed as though she already had a suspicion of what had happened, would it have been any different if he had not looked into who his parents were? However, an even better question is whether or not his knowledge of the original prophecies would have changed the outcome. Why was Jocasta informed of Oedipus's fate in the first place. Is knowing what is going to happen in the future really any of our business? If she was not forewarned of the dangers of Oedipus, would she have given him away? If she had not given him away, would he have lusted over her enough to kill his own father? Its the same way with Macbeth. If the witches had not reviled the prophecies to him, he would not have taken matters into his own hands. The same principles apply with Jocasta she should not have taken it upon herself to try to change fate. Knowledge of fate is more dangerous than being left in the dark.

PS. I commented on Meghan's

Darkness

As we venture through Oedipus, I can't help but wonder about the concept of darkness or blindness. The key question in this blog post that I want to raise and hopefully have some discussion is "what does darkness symbolize?" throughout literature, darkness has come to symbollize a good deal of different things that transcend far pass just "the absence of light".

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth says, 

"Come, thick night,

And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,

That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,

Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark

To cry “Hold, hold!”

She calls for darkness as a source of camouflage to hide Macbeth's actions from God. As daylight shines light and allows one to see, darkness conceals. Darkness hides all ill deeds. Many people who have fear of darkness state that it isn't the actual state of being in darkness that frightens them, but the things that hide in the dark. In biblical terms, light often portrays righteousness. Jesus calls Christians the "light of the world". However, darkness represents sin. One of the Devil's many nicknames is "The Prince of Darkness."

In Plato's The Allegory of the Cave, darkness symbolizes ignorance. The shadows of the fire burning behind the prisoners symbolizes a false sense of truth. It's an illusion of the truth brought about by the shadows of the darkness. Meanwhile, the sun and the light it's bring is the reality of the truth. the process of being brought out of the darkness into the light is a literal enlightenment where one goes from the lies of darkness and is brought into the truth.

Oedipus brings a different meaning to darkness however. Though it was brought about in the harshest of circumstances, Oedipus' blindness is brought about by his own willingness. In the other two situations discussed, darkness is used with a negative connotation. However, Oedipus has a positive use for it. He would rather live in darkness than live in a world where he has to stare his sin in the face. Darkness in Oedipus manner is a good thing because it keeps him away from his sin. It creates a barrier between him and what he has done. 

p.s. commented on Gary's "What's the Point."

the Power of Words

On page 169, lines 1349-1356 of the book, Oedipus says that he wishes the Herdsman had left him to die as a small child; that it would've bettered everyones lives, that none of this would have had to happen had it been so. The Chorus then follows by saying they agreed with him, they wished that upon him too. What really struck me today, while reading this, was how powerful words can be to someone. To have negatives words spoken to you all the time, and nothing ever affirming, leads to discouragement and unhappiness. Even if Oedipus hadn't had feelings like that about himself, he never should've been told that things would be better if he'd have died. As human beings, we need affirming, uplifting, and happy words spoken into our lives, daily, hourly. If someone ever gets to the point where they wish to themselves that they'd never been born, or had never been allowed to live, that is a serious and very sad issue that should be remedied.
I can't help but think of this...your words can make someone, or break someone. And no matter how hard your day has been, or how much you have going on in your life, which should you choose to do? Make them? Or break them?

P.s. I commented on Mallory Searcy's "Fate VS. Human Nature"