Free Will In The Prestige

In the Prestige, the characters we meet live in a world dominated by magic. The characters commit their lives to their acts; this inevitably dictates their every action and in the end seals their fate. Where the film suggests that these choices are freely made; true free will does not exist but is a synthesis construct by their thrownness. This creates justifications for any action taken by the characters during the film, as they believe they are acting freely.
One of Heidegger’s primary theories revolves around Dasein and the care structure. The implication of Dasein has to do with Alethia, which is the Greek word for the nature of truth. Heidegger explains that the truth of our being is much like our perception truths, where what we choose …show more content…
This is the first section of the care structure and deals with facticity. This encompasses the givens of our lives such as the time period one is born in and the bodies one lives in. For Heidegger one of the most basic elements of our facticity is thrownness which deals with how we were thrown into this life, seemingly without any say so in the matter. This leads into the second section of the care structure, Fallenness. Fallenness explains how we mostly live our lives, mainly on a mode of inauthenticity. This is explained primarily through thrownness or Geworfenheit. Heidegger’s explanation of how people are often thrown into certain mind sets even beginning at birth in which our decisions are dependent on the Geworfenheit we incorporate. As Martin Heidegger explains, Geworfenheit is something that dictates your choices. (Eric Dodson) In the case of Alfred Borden and Robert Angier, their Geworfenheit reflect magic. This role they have adopted as Magicians shape their lives and limit their possibilities. Once someone adopts a certain Geworfenheit, Heidegger explains that they no longer want to think of any other possibilities. In the Case of Borden and Angier this is apparent when Angier’s wife is drowning. Their Geworfenheit clouds their judgment and makes them choose to try and rescue her by breaking the glass when the easiest way to save her would have been to lift the top off of the tank and ruin the trick. Furthermore, both Borden and Angier strive to be better then one another, this is because their Geworfenheit makes them choose to only make choices that will further their career. Moreover, their need to keep secrets is the choice made by their Geworfenheit as it keeps their tricks a secret allowing them to keep their “big tricks” their own. Their obsession with secrecy and keeping their secrets is reflected when Borden says, “Sarah secrets are my life”, and he also maintains his secrecy by