Fate and Free Will

 From victim blaming to “blame the system,” there’s a perpetual debate between fate versus free will. How much of our lives are truly decided by the actions that we take?

As we read “Playing Metal Gear” in class this week, that was one of the questions that I found myself asking. With its second person perspective, its blend between orders and observation to the reader made it seem like events were transpiring that were out of your control. As the reader, I saw all these things happening to me, but I couldn’t do anything about them. I was passively hearing someone telling me what was happening to me. All the actions that I took were predefined and predestined.

Many of Shakespeare’s plays ask similar questions about destiny. From Romeo and Juliet to King Lear, Shakespeare uses the stars as a symbol as something from above that governs the lives that we lead. “Playing Metal Gear” has elements of generational trauma, with a war, not chosen by the author, subjects the reader to a world of conflict and aggression. In Shakespeare, generationally pervading house rivalries mean Romeo and Juliet can never be the couple that they want to be. Shakespeare doesn’t fully answer the question of our role in our destinies though. Like many philosophers, he’s settled for a middle ground that seems to be the best answer offered.

Since I’m talking about fate versus free will, a mention of Oedipus is inevitable. In Oedipus, by running from his fate, Oedipus inevitably fulfills it. Each choice he chooses takes him closer and closer to the painful prophecy. “Playing Metal Gear,” with its perception of personal choice through the second person POV hints at similar ideas. Through coping mechanisms, a traumatic history is forced into the virtual world. But in the end, the imagined and real are so closely blended, everything just morphs into one.