this is pc #5:
the choice & chance issue
"Is your destiny yours to create, or are you, to quote Mongo from Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles, 'only pawn in game of life'?"
Is your destiny yours to create, or are you, to quote Mongo from Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles, "only pawn in game of life"?
Maybe it's both?
We are told that Romeo and Juliet were "star-crossed lovers" — their fate spelled out in bold strokes against the inky night sky before they even laid eyes on one another. It may be true that chance, or "fortune" as Romeo claimed, set events in motion that were beyond his ability to control. He and Benvolio did just happen to run into a hapless Capulet servant who needed help deciphering a guest list. But you could argue that it was this servant's choice to invite the two gentlemen to his master's party, along with their decision to go that set events in motion.
The rest of the play follows a similar bent, with chance presenting characters with choices; the plot being recklessly driven forward by the decisions they make.
Real life can be like this, too.
People can be caught in a whirlwind of someone else's creation (chance), with the outcome resting not on another person's actions, but our own (choice). Or maybe you've made a choice you regret? Or took a chance that paid off beyond your wildest imaginings.
Choice and chance. Destiny and determination. Fate and free will. These are the congruent themes that run through Issue #5 of Prodigal's Chair.
Maybe it's both?
We are told that Romeo and Juliet were "star-crossed lovers" — their fate spelled out in bold strokes against the inky night sky before they even laid eyes on one another. It may be true that chance, or "fortune" as Romeo claimed, set events in motion that were beyond his ability to control. He and Benvolio did just happen to run into a hapless Capulet servant who needed help deciphering a guest list. But you could argue that it was this servant's choice to invite the two gentlemen to his master's party, along with their decision to go that set events in motion.
The rest of the play follows a similar bent, with chance presenting characters with choices; the plot being recklessly driven forward by the decisions they make.
Real life can be like this, too.
People can be caught in a whirlwind of someone else's creation (chance), with the outcome resting not on another person's actions, but our own (choice). Or maybe you've made a choice you regret? Or took a chance that paid off beyond your wildest imaginings.
Choice and chance. Destiny and determination. Fate and free will. These are the congruent themes that run through Issue #5 of Prodigal's Chair.
Header art by T. Guzzio. Original photo by S. Collis.
