Perdita-"lost one"

You have to admit, their stories are eerily similar. In the beginning, at least. Perdita, of Shakespeare's Winter's Tale, and Oedipus, of Greek mythology, are both cast off by cruel, paranoid fathers after the reading of an oracle. Perdita's father, Leontes, believes she is an illegitimate child of an adulterous queen. Born in prison, the babe is left in the desert to die, found, and raised by a humble shepherd. Oedipus' father, Laius, has been read an oracle that any son born to him will marry its mother and kill its father. Upon birth, Oedipus is given to a servant with the command to leave him somewhere to die. Instead, the servant gives the baby to a shepherd. Oedipus is passed between shepherds, until he is eventually adopted by the King of Corinth. Similarly, Perdita becomes involved with a royal family. She falls in love and runs away with Florizel, prince of Bohemia. Both Perdita and Oedipus eventually return to their places of birth.

Oedipus-"swollen foot"

Where their stories end, however, could not be more different. Perdita's return to Sicilia leads to the discovery that she is the Kings daughter, and rejoicing ensues. She rises to her true identity gracefully, and marries Prince Florizel. They presumably live happily ever after. Oedipus' tale does not end quite so happily. He fulfills the prophecy, unknowingly killing his father and marrying his mother. Upon discovering the truth Oedipus blinds himself and lives out the rest of his life in exile.

So what happened? These two characters, who started out so similarly, seem to have been slaves to fate. Their destinies were foretold before or shortly after their births. Perdita's predicted return to Sicilia would not have been necessary if Leontes had never gone into his jealous rage and thrown his daughter out to die. Even Oedipus' self-fulfilling prophecy would have been useless if Laius had not acted on it. Both Perdita and Oedipus' futures were decided by the actions of their fathers. Are we, too, cursed by the actions of those who have come before us?

Today's blog posting is going to be a little less about Shakespeare, and a little more about me... I know, gasp. How selfish of me.

So as we are getting more into this blogging business, a point that seems to keep coming up is finding an online identity. Blogs are interesting when you know who you are, know what you like, and are witty about sharing it. Right? But we aren't all born knowing the answers to these questions. Some people never figure out just who they are. I usually count myself as one of those. So the question is, how do I create an online identity, when my identity in reality is still up in the air? I don't have a major (it got the X about a week into this semester) and I don't have a single clue about what I am vaguely interested in. Inside my head there's this battle where on one shoulder is a little kid saying Hakuna Mutata, it means no worries. I can grow up to be anything in the world, as long as I believe. And on my other shoulder is a grumpy old lady telling me she's tired of working, just give up now, I'll never find anything I want to major in. Actually, she looks kinda like this:

But the point is, blogging Shakespeare related to something that interests me is actually kinda scary. Because what interests me is everything and nothing. And yet, as I was reflecting on my hopeless situation today I had a thought. A brilliant thought, if I do say so myself. If Shakespeare knew so much about the nature of humanity, he must have known about people like me, too. The world is full of indecisive people who are struggling to find themselves. And although they may not be the great protagonists of Shakespeare's plays, I am sure he included them somewhere. So that's what I'm here to do, look for me in Shakespeare. As we read through some of his great works this semester, I'll be on the lookout for the lost and confused, the people who are in the midst of self discovery. And who knows, maybe I'll discover a little bit of myself along the way. Hopefully it won't be the old, wrinkly part:)

FYI: The title is a Merchant of Venice quote