Oedipus & Antigone Test

Alex Kerkhoff
12/7/11
A- Block
Mr. BG

Oedipus & Antigone Test

1.     If fate was real and I believed in it, it would not be possible for me to alter my fate through free will. The higher power controls everything in your life and there is nothing that you can do to stop it. You may try to change what the god is doing but inevitably you will do what he wants you to do.    

Conversely if  you believe in free will, you believe that every action or thought that you make is because of you and only you. There is no high power in free will, it is all the up to the person and what decisions he or she makes. If you think about a child being born, that is just evolution and Darwinism. There are times when you may challenge your own idea of free will when some thing happens that you can’t explain. But if you look back on it, there is a logical answer on why that event happened. You just don't see it when your in the moment because your not focused on it.

Your usually focused on something else and then that event that you can’t explain happens. Sometimes you see the whole event happen and you swear that it was a act of fate but it could be your mind playing tricks on you. Your mind sees what it wants to see.

2.    Every day billions of people lie to one another and  it’s okay.  Lying is something that everyone has done even if they say they never have lied. So if everyone does it, its acceptable to lie. There are moments everyday when you don’t want to tell the truth for a couple of reasons.

    First is if you don't like the person and you don't want them to know something you know. Second is if you like the person and you don’t want to hurt there feeling because there your friend. Third sometimes its easier to tell a lie than the truth. To be the bearer of bad news isn't fun so you just lie.

    There are times when you intentionally lie to someone because you believe that it is in the persons best interest. When you and a group of your friends are going somewhere and someone else wants to go but you don’t want them to go because you aren't great friends with them. And that person who wants to go asks if your doing anything and you saying nothing. Your trying to be nice and not hurt there feelings by telling them that nothing is going. Then there are times when people lie to you and it would be better if they told you the truth. Like if your wearing some ridiculous and if you ask if this looks good and you say yes. Then when you go out in public people make fun of you.

    Telling the truth is usually seen as the right thing to do, and lying is always the wrong thing to do. But that is not always the case there are times when it is better to lie and not tell the truth. I think its impossible  to never to lie, its almost human nature. There is no possible way to know when to tell the truth or to lie, because we can’t see the future. Telling the truth and lying should be dealt on a case by case basis, because no two situations are the same.

3.    Sigmund Freud was a psychoanalysis in the 1800’s to 1900’s that came up with the Oedipus complex. The Oedipus complex is the childhood desire to sleep with the mother and kill the father. This is gets it’s orgin from the play Oedipus one of Sophocles plays. In the play Oedipus ends up killing his own father and sleeping with his own mother. The Oedipus complex explains that when a child is young that his love for his mothers breast is what he wants. And he notices that his father gets to have those whenever he wants. So subconsciously or consciously the child wants to kill his father.

I think that all of Freud’s evidence for the child wanting to kill his father and bed his mother is pish posh. A baby doesn’t know that he wants sex or anything sexual. When a baby sees breast its not a sexual desire it’s a hunger desire, it knows it going to get fed. Secondly why would a baby want to kill it’s father if it knows that the father takes care of it and cares for it.

If I had to agree with Freud’s theory  and come up with a argument to support him then I would have to agree with him that baby's go through phase’s like oral phase. If I had to disagree with him would say that a baby doesn't know all these sexual things at this young of stage of life so why would he kill his father.

4.    In the play Antigone, there are many deaths and killings, and this is the same fate for Antigone. Antigone is trying to bury her brother after Eteocles and Polyneices killed each other in battle. Antigone his sentenced to death for burying her brother and she takes matters into her own hands and hangs herself. I think that this was a fitting death because there is so much death and this is more dramatic. I think she does this because her love for her brothers is more than for following the orders of Creon. She is willing to risk her life to give her brother a proper burial.

There are many laws in society today and there are many people that break them. According to governments it is never okay to break the law, but people still break them everyday. Laws that for murder and extreme crimes are right and should be there. But there are a lot of laws that make no sense. If you have to decided to break the law or not to it comes down to how important it is to you. The opportunity cost of breaking the law has to be out weighed by reason for breaking the law.   

One law that is alright to bend is speeding, nobody always follows speed signs to a Tee. People go a little over or a little under, that isn’t hurting anyone. It is okay to break the law when driving on JOL. I think that having someone in your car can also help you because they can be a spotter of sorts. It is always good to follow the law when it comes to murder. Don’t murder anyone because killing people isn’t a good thing to do. To make fair and unfair laws it is necessary to find out what the general public wants, the majority of people. You need to satisfy the needs of the many rather than the needs of the few.