What are examples of fate?

Question

Examples of fate that are controlled, and examples of fate that aren't controlled.

Answer 1

One of the greatest stories about fate is about Oedipus. He was fated to kill his father and marry his mother. Fearing the prophecy, his king and queen parents did away with him as a baby (he ended up staked by his feet to the ground). He was found and raised as the son of another king and queen. When he heard of the prophecy he feared it and left home to make sure it wasn't fulfilled. At a crossroads after his departure he got into a dispute with his biological father (of course, he did not know it was him) and killed him. Oedipus continued on his way and came across a sphinx that was terrorizing the people of the Thebes (where he was running away to). He solved the riddle of the sphinx and saved the city - they rewarded him by making him king (since theirs had just died!) and he was naturally wedded to the queen, his mother. The prophecy was fulfilled. The lesson is that fate is unavoidable and completely uncontrolled by the people it concerns.

I can't think of any other literature that notoriously deals with the ideas of fate - but I can think of pop culture references.

* Fate as controlled: the movie Ever After - da Vinci tells the prince that "You cannot leave everything to Fate, boy. She's got a lot to do. Sometimes you must give her a hand."

* Fate as uncontrolled: like in the movies Crash and Love Actually when a bunch of stories are told that overlap because people are meant to meet certain people and experience certain events/feelings

* a more abstract idea of fate as controlled: George Orwell wrote stories like 1984 and Animal Farm as warning signs - if we don't pay attention to political authorities and their powers now, they could become so fortified that there is no bringing them down, as in: this COULD be our fate if we LET is happen, so let's not.

I hope that helps you, that's a tricky subject. I think it's good to distinguish the differences by "controlled" and "uncontrolled" because they imply involvement (even if it's futile efforts) of the people. Really, there are lots of examples of controlled fate because really all that means is people are responsible for their own lives. The circumstances of their lives are caused by the choices they made.

For more information on Oeduipus, you might check out the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus

Good luck!

Answer 2

I'm not sure I quite understand.  To me, using the accepted definition of "fate," it doesn't seem like there would be a controlled example.  Fate suggests the very opposite of controlled; you have no control over it.

Example of uncontrollable fate could be death, unfortunate circumstances that turn out to be useful (like a flat tire that made you late for a meeting that actually was scheduled on a different day than what you thought), some might consider their true love their fate... the list could go on forever.