Are we ever in control of our own fate? I believe we are actually in control of our own fates unlike what is proposed in “Oedipus the King”. I believe that we humans can make a lot of choices and although there are unexpected events that happen occasionally or often in our own lives, we humans are adaptive beings and always puts our interests first hence we will be able to control our own fates. For instance, Beethoven started to become deaf when he was 26 and it gradually worsened until when he was 46 he lost almost all of his hearing. (Taken from link 1) However, he was still able to compose great music including symphonies, quartets, and many others. How can he still do this? Well, he had the determination and passion. When he started to become deaf, it was known that he would bite a metal rod from his teeth and connect it to the piano in order to listen for vibrations at best as his can by bone conduction. (Taken from link 2) This showed his ability to adapt and also his intelligence. Although our ears might be one of the most important things to us musicians, I can’t imagine not ever being able to listen to music ever again. You can still anticipate theory, watch performances, or compose music, however, I believe that it will never be the same again. You are not hearing the music, you are merely watching a person doing strokes on the violin or pressing keys on a keyboard. It wasn’t the same for Beethoven, he had the determination and found ways to cope with his disabilities. He had control of his own fate. I have to clarify that having control of our own fate does not mean that we can live the perfect life that we want to live in. Beethoven had many suspected health problems that historians proposed.
I believe for Oedipus, Sophocles has made the circumstances of Oedipus too extreme to relate for the average person. He had no chance to change his fate since by the time the play started he already has married his mother and murdered his father. Therefore, it is really hard to relate to the average person in modern society. For the modern-day society, it is really difficult for one to relate to his extreme circumstances and it was as if life was doomed for Oedipus. Apart from Oedipus, characters that are linked to him are affected tragically as well since they are all connected and the entire family just fell apart.
However, for the majority of us, I believe that life is not doomed like Oedipus’ or the tragic lives of characters connected to him. Although there might be extreme situations when you are born into a starving family which has none to eat or Terrorist family that raises you to become a terrorist, the world is becoming a better place and with that comes the extent of fate we can control. The more well off we are, the more the choices we can make and the more the power we have to control the life that we want to live in. As the world becomes a better place, we would have fewer bumps and fewer tragedies that happen to us in which would result in a better life for every one of us to live.
Links:
2 – http://www.goldendance.co.jp/English/boneconduct/01.html
The Ancient Greeks: Tragedy, Philosophy, and Politics 
It is a hard question as to whether or not we are in control of our fate. To my understanding, fate is a path of life that has already been designed, so no one can know what the design is in the first place. Like the example of Beethoven, what if losing hearing ability and and his continuation on composing are part of his life design? Which means he is not really in control of the design but unconsciously carrying it out.
Thank you for your reply! I can relate to your point and I feel the same way as you do initially. To say that fate is a path of life that has already been designed is hard to say and in my perspective, we do not know that since for me, I do not acknowledge God or any higher being that has planned out our lives already. Yes, we do not know what the design is of our lives or if it even is designed for us already. There is currently no way to know whether our fates are set for us already. However, I believe the distinction is made between us acknowledging that we do not know whether our fates are set but also that we do not know whether our efforts would not contribute to a change in destiny due to sudden circumstances. To put this concept in a real-life situation, yes, Beethoven become deaf at some point in his life and he had no control over that or maybe some individual died in a car crash one day. However, to dwell on the fact that we have no control over certain circumstances of our own lives seems to me that we will never have an answer to such a question. For me, there are things that someone can do which could improve their lives, for example, one studies well for his test and he gets a good grade for the test. I believe such a mentality is the core purpose of life and how we would make the best out of the opportunities that fate gives us. In doing so, we refocus our lives into realizing that we actually have the ability to change and control our fates since we adapt uncontrollable variables into controllable variables consistently. For me, to think that life is already set for us and we have no ability to change it also gives a demoralizing approach to how one thinks about life. I would lack motivation if I know that my life is already set for me and this is not true in my perspective.