In the TED Talk we watched yesterday, we learned about irrational decision making. This means that when we are faced with a decision in life, we simply choose what was chosen for us. For example, the speaker talked about the statistics of countries whose citizens would/wouldn't be organ donors. By simply rewording the question to the citizens when you ask them if they want to donate their organs after they die, the number of citizens who would donate literally quadrupled! It is quite hard to except that we can't control the decisions we make and this is quite tragic.
In the play Oedipus the King, Oedipus thought he was controlling his fate by leaving Laius and going to Thebes because he thought if he stayed in Laius that he would kill his father due to the prophecy he was told. So in order to save his father he left for Thebes, however in the end he ended up killing his father even though he tried not to. Oedipus had no control over his life even though he thought he did. His fate was predetermined and he was even told so by a prophet. Because Oedipus's fate took over his life, he left the world in a tragic way leaving his children to live a tragic life as well.
This idea that our fate is predetermined and that the decisions we make we cannot control makes for a tragic idea on life. If we have no control over the decisions that we make then we all move closer and closer to meeting our own tragic fates every day and we can't control how it will happen. In plays such as Oedipus the King, we are able to read and understand the unfortunate events that can come from an uncontrollable fate.
In the play Oedipus the King, Oedipus thought he was controlling his fate by leaving Laius and going to Thebes because he thought if he stayed in Laius that he would kill his father due to the prophecy he was told. So in order to save his father he left for Thebes, however in the end he ended up killing his father even though he tried not to. Oedipus had no control over his life even though he thought he did. His fate was predetermined and he was even told so by a prophet. Because Oedipus's fate took over his life, he left the world in a tragic way leaving his children to live a tragic life as well.
This idea that our fate is predetermined and that the decisions we make we cannot control makes for a tragic idea on life. If we have no control over the decisions that we make then we all move closer and closer to meeting our own tragic fates every day and we can't control how it will happen. In plays such as Oedipus the King, we are able to read and understand the unfortunate events that can come from an uncontrollable fate.