Fate: Sealed yet Alterable
It is human nature to crave knowledge. People cannot help it, and oftentimes it is a favorable quality. Awareness should be desirable, right? Sometimes. But when dealing with fate, awareness can only hurt individuals, as shown in both Oedipus Rex and Minority Report. Both movie and play clearly illustrate that when a person tries to change their own destiny, they only end up bringing themselves closer to it. They also show how attempting to alter another’s destiny yields the same outcome. Unfortunately, there is no definite outcome - the end result is dependent on how much of one’s future is made clear to them. Fewer details allow more room for change, and therefore becoming fully aware of one’s future only further …show more content…
In Corinth, over fifteen years ago, Oedipus was told by a drunken man at dinner a startling fact about his parentage. Another translation of Oedipus dictates this as; “... a drunken man accused me in his drink of being a bastard… I was running to a place I would never see that shameful prophecy come true,” (Sophocles 45). The fact that the man was “drunken” indicates that his perception of reality was off, and yet he is the one who informs Oedipus of the truth. Similarly, Agatha was heavily drugged and sedated for most if not all of her life, however she can see exact moments in the future with total clarity. This motif of drugs, re-occurring in MR and singularly occurring in Oedipus, shows how in the effort to oppose fate, it is almost like neither character can walk a straight line, almost as though they are using drugs. This is supported by the layout of the sentence “accused me in his drink”. When examined, the reader knows that the author means to say that the man told Oedipus while drinking, but at first glance, it seems to mean that Oedipus is actually in the drink, drowning in wine that he just can’t seem to stop trying to escape from. This is also supported by the word “running”. Oedipus was brought from Thebes to Corinth as a child, and then returned to Thebes after hearing of the prophecies and fulfilling one of them, and then the next two. He
It is human nature to crave knowledge. People cannot help it, and oftentimes it is a favorable quality. Awareness should be desirable, right? Sometimes. But when dealing with fate, awareness can only hurt individuals, as shown in both Oedipus Rex and Minority Report. Both movie and play clearly illustrate that when a person tries to change their own destiny, they only end up bringing themselves closer to it. They also show how attempting to alter another’s destiny yields the same outcome. Unfortunately, there is no definite outcome - the end result is dependent on how much of one’s future is made clear to them. Fewer details allow more room for change, and therefore becoming fully aware of one’s future only further …show more content…
In Corinth, over fifteen years ago, Oedipus was told by a drunken man at dinner a startling fact about his parentage. Another translation of Oedipus dictates this as; “... a drunken man accused me in his drink of being a bastard… I was running to a place I would never see that shameful prophecy come true,” (Sophocles 45). The fact that the man was “drunken” indicates that his perception of reality was off, and yet he is the one who informs Oedipus of the truth. Similarly, Agatha was heavily drugged and sedated for most if not all of her life, however she can see exact moments in the future with total clarity. This motif of drugs, re-occurring in MR and singularly occurring in Oedipus, shows how in the effort to oppose fate, it is almost like neither character can walk a straight line, almost as though they are using drugs. This is supported by the layout of the sentence “accused me in his drink”. When examined, the reader knows that the author means to say that the man told Oedipus while drinking, but at first glance, it seems to mean that Oedipus is actually in the drink, drowning in wine that he just can’t seem to stop trying to escape from. This is also supported by the word “running”. Oedipus was brought from Thebes to Corinth as a child, and then returned to Thebes after hearing of the prophecies and fulfilling one of them, and then the next two. He