Oedipus Essay Test

Oedipus and Antigone Test            

Question #1

I believe in fate more than i do free will, so i would not even have to pretend that i believe in fate for a second. I also don't believe that you can alter someones fate through free will. In some instances free will can slightly change and or alter the future, but in almost all cases free will cannot change someone fate completely. I believe that life is almost planned out for you, so if you are going to try and change the path that life already has for you, it is a waste of your time and you could be doing something better with that time. Things will happen in life, and you can not control that, so when those things come up in your life, you have to stand up to them and get past them instead of being a coward and trying to avoid them.

Thinking in the terms of free will is a little different for me because i usually think in the terms of fate. It isn't necessarily fate that i was born a girl over a boy, its more genetics. Just like other families, they say that they want to have a boy, but in some cases they can’t get what they want, because its the way that the sperm and egg bond together to decide whether you are a male or female. As to in the parents that i have you can not say that it was free will or fate that they are my parents. Things happened in both of their lives that brought them close together and they ended up getting married and having kids, that was not a choice i had, but it was a choice that they had. Lastly, about the first breath, that was free will, because my mother decided that she wanted to have me in that particular hospital, it wasn't my free will to want to take my first breath there, that was my mothers decision.

Personally, i believe in fate on a higher level than i do that of free will. Are there some instances in which i believe in free will? Yes, but that's only on certain occasions. My mother always tells me that when i was little i always loved sports and always had some kind of sports equipment in my hand. The free will here was to try all the different sports but only stick with the ones that i truly loved because that's what i most enjoy.

Question #2

Have you ever come across a time in your life where you felt the need to lie? Where you felt there was no way out other than to lie to get yourself out of trouble? Personally, there have been several instances where i have not told the truth. Is it the right thing to do? To lie? No, but in some cases it is what you need to do to get by. Not everyone is ready and or prepared to the tell the truth or they aren’t ready to hear it, so a solution to that is fibbing or lying. Another instance that i think that it is okay to lie is when you are doing it to protect your family or someone that you love.

One big time that i have lied to my mother was very recently. I lied to her for a good reason and it was in her best interest. It happened to be the time right after Thanksgiving and we were planning a surprise birthday party for my mom. It was a very difficult time to do this because she usually works everyday but Wednesday, but because it was after a holiday she had some extra time off. I had to go out on many different occasions and get all the things that we needed for the party and she is always and was always asking me where i was going. This is where the lying took place. I had to lie about where i was going and why i was going there. Deep down inside i know it didn't feel right, but after all and all was done it was definitely worth it.

A time when i was lied to when i would have rather heard the real truth was three years ago when my grandmother was in the hospital. The night before she passed away my mother told me that they were just going to visit her just like every other night, but in real they had gotten a call from the hospital saying that my grandmother only had a couple hours to live. I would have much rather had the truth told to me so that it was not as big of a shock to me when i found out she died the next morning.

I personally believe in telling the truth, but for some cases when it is completely necessary, it is okay to have a little lie. Lying to someone and having them find out that you intentionally lied to them is the worst feeling in the world, especially when its a family member or a good friend. I always try to tell the truth because i know telling the truth is the right thing to do and i would want someone to tell me the truth and not lie to me.

Question #3

Sigmund Freud’s Oedipus complex is a very basic thing. It occurs in a man’s childhood and he has the desire to kill his father and sleep with his mother. This complex happens in stages. The stages happen in the order of The oral stage, weaning, the anal stage, potty training, and finally the phallic stage, Oedipal crisis. These stages happen and Oedipus is unable to escape it.

I find it to be a bit ridiculous personally. I don't understand where he could get this idea from. This idea isn’t just hogwash, it is rather disgusting too. I believe that there could be some that are born that have this initiative, but for the average normal man i can not see this being true.

One thing that could support the Oedipus complex is that they could have been son of the mothers thinking that the mother was attractive and wanting to sleep with her. In a way to debunk the complex is by seeing the bond that some fathers and sons have together. I know plenty of father and sons that have in irreplaceable bond. This bond will make the whole kill the father sleep with the mother completely wrong.

Question #4

Antigone get the courage to break the law and risk death to do what she thinks is right because she believed in religious laws over city laws which is why she felt that it was her duty as his sister to bury him. Another reason would be because there family name has already suffered enough tragedy so what would one more thing be? Lastly, by going against the decree for her bother to not be buried she is pointing out how Thebes doesn’t care about honoring religious gods and also means going against there gods. Back in those times this was one of the worst things you could do because it was considered very dishonorable.
There are many laws that i have to and am supposed to follow day by day. One law that is stated in the state of Massachusetts is the law to wear your seat belt when driving. Other laws are no drinking and driving and drugs are against the law too. One other law was when you’re under the age of eighteen you are not supposed to drive between the hours of 12:30am-5:00am.
The law that i choose to follow without question is the one with no drugs because i think that drugs are pointless, and also the law of no drinking and driving. I think if you drink and drive you are very irresponsible and you could harm your life along with any other person in the car, driving on the road, or even going for a walk. One law that i feel is okay to bend is the one about driving between those times when your under eighteen. I personally can not think of any laws that i feel are okay to break. They are called laws for a reason, and they are not meant to be broken.