Oedipus and Antigone Test

1.)

if I believed in fate, I would believe that it is possible for people to alter their fates and change their fates through freewill. An analogous example that comes to mind when I think about this is the modern day US class system. In the modern day US class system people are born into classes, either upper, middle, or lower class, and it is very hard to escape this class that they are born into, especially the lower class. It is almost a matter of fate that they are born into these classes. It is possible through hard work and determination that you can escape the class that you are born into, because in America you have freewill. It is almost like the government attempts to hinder and prevent your ability from escaping your fate, but it is possible to escape it.
If freewill governed my life then there would be no such thing as fate. Everything that happens to me happens because I allowed it to happen or someone else allowed it to happen. I would essentially chart my own course and I would create my own path that I have complete control over, and I believe that every person has the ability to change any feature of their life that they wish to.
If I lived in a world decided by fate, I would believe that fate governed whether or not I was a boy or girl. I would have a preset life that is already chosen for me and I would just be simply fulfilling it. Even though I believe in freewill, I still believe that there is some fate involved with me being born a boy or girl, and with me being born into the life that I have. Looking at the big picture it is easy to believe that it was your fate that you were born either a boy or a girl. In reality it is not fate, rather it is science, genetics, and some degree of luck. When something occurs in my life that I can’t explain, I do not believe that it is fate, instead I believe that it is a coincidence. I believe that I have complete control over my life and the events that occur in it.
2.)

I believe that lying is only OK under certain circumstances. I believe that you can only lie to protect something. There are definitely instances where it is better to lie than it is to tell the truth. An example that comes off the top of my head would be if a family pet gets hit by a car, and the parent does not want to tell the 5 year old daughter that the pet was hit by the car, because it would really make her sad. This is an example where the parent is lying to protect their own child’s emotions and sanity, if the parent were to tell the truth then the child would become very emotionally distressed.
A real life example of a person lying because they believed it was in peoples best interest was when President Bush issued the Patriot Act. He and the government lied about the extent of which they tapped American citizen’s phones. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with his actions, ultimately he believed that it was in the best interest of National Security to tap phones.
A time when someone lied to me was when my mom would always tell me faulty excuses of why my uncle would never show up to family holiday gatherings, in reality he had drug problems but I'm sure that my mom didn’t want to tell me that. In reality though, I would have preferred to have heard the truth rather than a lie. All in all I believe that it is very important to tell the truth as much as you possibly can, because it says a lot about your character. There are those special occasions when lies have to be told to protect a certain interest, because the truth is just sometimes too much. I believe that the truth does set us free, because when we have lies on our consciences I feels terrible. When you tell the truth it makes the people around you feel good and it makes yourself feel good.
3.)

The Sigmund Freud Oedipus Complex is a psychoanalytical process that describes the behaviors of human beings throughout their life cycles. Ultimately what it boils down to is that every child born (male) has a desire to sleep with his mother and to kill his father. This idea originated in Sophocles's play Oedipus. It was foretold by a prophet that Oedipus would eventually sleep with his mother and kill his father. His parents did everything in their power to try to prevent it but it happened anyways.
I personally do not think that there is any truth to Freud’s complex. I understand how he can come up with these thoughts though. At a young age babies are breast fed by their mothers, and the Freud it make seem like there is a sense of desire for the mother. If the mother is desired by the baby, then dad is essentially the enemy, because mom gives him all the attention. Therefore the baby would hate his dad and would want him out of the picture. I do not agree that this Complex is an accurate description of life, but I do understand how he believes it. The only thing I have to debunk this theory is actual evidence. If it were true that every child wanted to sleep with his mother and kill his father, wouldn’t it be happening everywhere? I don’t see any evidence of this occurring around the world so until I do see it, I won’t believe it.
4.)

Creon himself would argue that this is Oedipus’ daughter and she believes that she is above the law. I do not believe this at all. She just feels very strongly about the burial of Polyneicies, and she will make sure that her voice is heard throughout these events. She may not get the “above the law” attitude from Oedipus, but she certainly gets the courage from Oedipus. Oedipus was a smart man himself, and he did not back down to a challenge (Ex: The Sphinx).
The criteria I use to decide which laws I am going to either break or bend all depend on the consequence. I would never break a law that had a severe punishment to it. If robbing banks was legal, I would be robbing banks all day, but since it has a long term jail sentence pinned to it I don’t break the law. The other guideline I use for breaking or bending a law is if it will harm anybody. I would personally never want to break a law and physically or emotionally damage someone because of it. A law I would break would be the JOL driving law, because it doesn’t harm anyone, and it doesn’t have any jail time associated with it. A law I would bend would probably be a curfew time that is set up with your parents because it won’t have severe consequences. A law that I would follow would be bank robbery, because I would never want to go to jail for that long. I believe that a fair law can be defined as a law that works for the better safety of mankind. To me I believe that an unfair law is one that deprives you of you right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.