One timeless human experience I found is that we as humans can bravely challenge our miserable fate and try to convert it to a consequence that we desire. Although I and everyone can’t accept the fact that Oedipus married his mother Jocasta and had children with her, I admire him for spending his life trying to get away from the prophecy said by God. When he heard he would finally murder his father and marry his mother, he didn’t surrender to this so-called destiny and wait for the prediction happen. Instead he escapes his birthplace and starts a new life in a country where he becomes a king of it. That’s what made us as human beings unique in the world. Unlike the poultry whose destiny is being killed and eaten, the reason that we stand at the top of the food chain is that we have a stronger power to question our fate. We are competent to have a battle with the predicted future. However, for Oedipus, “its prophecies, ever living, flutter around his head”. In other words, our power is so small that we are not able to win over the big destiny. But I still believe that our failure in life can never use our destiny as an excuse. There are still many things we can control and change. For me, the behavior of Oedipus’s fighting against his fate prolongs the distance to reaching the tragic outcomes. Otherwise, this would have become an unremarkable story about a person who is conquered by a tragic fate.
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One thought on “Jiaxing Rong Discussion 7”
Hi Jiaxing, I find it interesting that you make the point that humans stand above all due to their ability to question their fate. I feel that one of the main points of Oedipus is that no matter how hard one tries to run from their destiny, they cannot escape their fate at the hands of the gods. Thus, your last sentence is fascinating in that that is exactly what Oedipus is: a person conquered by a tragic fate, despite fighting against his fate.