blog 6

When there are options in a person’s life, where he or she has the ability to choose he or she has free will. Similarly the article mention that free will requires two things: alternate possibilities and self-control. On the other hand when someone only has one course of action this is known as determinism. According to the article determinism is when one future is possible.
In Oedipus the king free will manifested itself when he killed his father. At the scene of the murder where the three roads meet Oedipus said he met a herald and a horse-drawn carriage. The old man in the carriage lashed out at him and he (Oedipus) retaliated, thus killing the old man and the others in the carriage. According to the article free will is having alternate possibilities and self-control. Even thou the old man in the carriage lashed out at him, Oedipus could have walked away. He was not force by any internal or external impulse which was not able to be controlled. He had a choice. Oedipus appears initially to be very belligerent and aggressive as thou he could not control his anger. But later in the play this attitude changed when he was convinced that he was his father’s killer. The way in which he spoke to Creon demonstrated this. This shows that Oedipus has self-control. He could control his temper, which is what the article mentioned about free will: alternate possibilities and self-control.
In the movie minority report before John Anderson killed Leo crow he had a choice. In the movie it was learnt that once you have fore knowledge of an event you could avert what was predicted. John Anderson knew that he was supposed to kill Leo crow according to the precog’s vision. She even told john that he had a choice. John was outrage with his son’s death and made up his mind to kill Leo crow. Leo Crow began talking and from his words John realized he was set up. His initially anger was pacified and at that moment john did not want to kill Leo crow. The fact that Leo Crow held on to Johns hand and by trying to resist the grip John killed Leo crow which I will consider accidental. The two elements that determines free will was revealed which was alternate possibilities and self-control. So in the movie minority report and in the play Oedipus the king free will manifest itself.
In the play Oedipus the king and the movie minority report there was determinism. According to the prophecy Oedipus was to kill his father and marry and conceived children with his mother .Although he tried to run away from his fate he still killed his father and marry his mother. In line 951- 954 Oedipus said “it was my fate to defile my mother‘s bed, to bring forth to men a human family that people could not bear to look upon, to murder my father who engendered me”. In the movie minority report John Anderson was supposed to kill Leo crow and he killed Leo crow. Both individuals were faced with a determined future which came to pass.
In the play Oedipus was skeptical of his destiny so to validate the story of his fate he commanded his wife to send for the servant who witnessed the murder. Lines 916-917 “I’d like him to return back here to us”. When the servant recited what happened Oedipus was convinced and in shame he gorged out his eyes because he could not face the truth. In the movie John was determined to find the truths so in order to evade detection from the pre-crime officers who will prevent him from finding the truth he replaced his eyes with new ones. Both men destiny lead them to remove their eyes.
Both john and Oedipus played a leadership role. Oedipus was a king and John was a chief detective. Oedipus was a hasty where as john was a drug addict . In the end of the movie John did not accept his fate. Before he was arrested john wanted to run from the pre-crime officers but realized he did not had any way to go. In the play Oedipus accepted his fate and was ready to face the consequences of his actions.