Essay on A Struggle with Fate in Oedipus the King by Sophocles

The quote that shows the full cycle of Oedipus’ life till death is, “O sunlight of no light! Once you were mine” (214). This quote is said by Oedipus when he has accepted his fate and is about to go to his death. This quote presents the tragic life of Oedipus who created the self-fulfilling prophecy for himself. In other words, Oedipus presents a tragedy progressed in the equivalent forces of fate and free will.

Oedipus is living in a dream from which he is only just beginning to awake. In this dream, he not only believes that he is in control of his own fate but that he is in control of his own identity. He assumes that he has three virtues: wisdom, reason, and self-control. When he attempts to use these virtues, however, he discovers that he is mistaken on all three counts. His first mistake is believing that he is wise. From this wisdom he hopes to maintain control over the events around him, but true wisdom is actually surrendering to the fact that control is an illusion, a "seeming." His second mistake is believing that he is a rational man. Indeed, Oedipus has great cognitive

Oedipus is the king of Thebes and unknown to him he is married to his mother Jocasta queen of Thebes. He does not realize that many years ago he had killed his real father without knowing it. Oedipus is seen as god like to the people of Thebes because it was him who solved the sphinxes riddles. In the play he is accused by Teiresias of killing the king and Oedipus blames his brother in law and kreon of trying to over throw him. Then his wife Jocasta comes into the scene and tells a story of how the king was killed. It is then that Oedipus learns of his childhood and becomes more suspicious then ever. He then calls a shepherd and a messenger to help answer questions. The people tell him to stop asking about the death because he may not like the answer but Oedipus makes the ultimate sacrifice and continues to

Oedipus is a man of unflagging determination and perseverance, but one who must learn through the working out of a terrible prophecy that there are forces beyond any man’s conceptualization or control. Oedipus’ actions were determined before his birth, yet Oedipus’ actions are entirely determined by the Gods who control him completely. In the beginning of this tragedy, Oedipus took many actions leading to his own downfall. He tried to escape Corinth when he learned of the prophecies that were supposed to take place in his life. Instead, he

He wrote a winning play called Oedipus The King. When he wrote Oedipus the King the human Sophocles answered the question that the human experience is shown as a sad experience. Oedipus The King by Sophocles, is about a man named Oedipus. His fate was to kill his father and marry his own mother. To stop this from happening he left, but no matter what he does, ultimately his fate comes true.

“Every man has his own destiny: the only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads him.” In other words, the connotation of this anonymous quote states that despite whatever one chooses to decide, the outcome of their choices and decisions will still result to their predetermined fate. Sophocles’ tragedy, Oedipus the King, demonstrates this statement throughout the play in the role of his tragic hero Oedipus. In the course of Oedipus’ actions of trying to escape his predestined fortune, his fate and flaws of being human played major roles to bring about his downfall.

Oedipus was clever enough to solve the riddle, and then took on the throne of Thebes. When he began ruling Thebes, Oedipus thought that he had beaten his fate; he thought that his father would live and that he would not marry his mother. Instead, it is revealed to Oedipus that he is really the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta. When Oedipus was a baby, Laius went to the oracle and his future was revealed to him; his son who would later marry his mother would kill Laius. Perturbed by this, Laius ordered the death of his son, so a shepherd took the baby to a mountain to dispose of the baby, but he couldn’t do it. Instead he gave the baby to a messenger of King Polybus. Oedipus, while trying to avoid his future kills King Laius in self-defense, and then takes on the throne of Thebes. Inadvertently, Oedipus kills his father and marries his mother.

If there is any evil worse than the worst that a man can suffer—Oedipus has drawn it for his lot.” (p. 98)

Oedipus the King is a tragedy that displays irony throughout the play. In the play, King Laius and his wife Jocasta learn that in the prophecy their newborn son, Oedipus, will kill his father and marry his mother. In order to prevent the prophecy from occurring, they decide to bind and tie his ankles and then abandoned him. When Oedipus grew up, he eventually learned about this prophecy and decided to leave his parents. What he did not realize was that the parents who raised him were not his biological parents. On his voyage to Thebes, Oedipus ended up in a chariot accident

Oedipus the King by Sophocles is about Oedipus, a man doomed by his fate. Like most tragedies, “Oedipus the King” contains a tragic hero, a heroic figure unable to escape his/her own doom. This tragic hero usually has a hamartia or a tragic flaw which causes his/hers’ downfall. The tragic flaw that Sophocles gives Oedipus is hubris (exaggerated pride or self-confidence), which is what caused Oedipus to walk right into the fate he sought to escape.

Several years later, after defeating the monstrous Sphinx, Oedipus is the new king, practically worshipped by the people of Thebes, and is married to Laius’s widow Jocasta. Oedipus is completely oblivious to the crimes he had committed at this point. Killing a king was considered a crime against the gods and required admittance of said crime and acceptance of punishment.

Aristotle’s tragic hero is one of the most recognizable types of heroes among literature. A tragic hero combines five major points all of which have to do with the hero’s stature in society, his faults, how these faults effect him, the punishment his faults gets him, and how he reacts to this punishment. Aristotle explained that the story of Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, is a perfect example of a tragic hero. In the play, Oedipus is given a prophecy in which he is told that he will kill his father then marry his mother. As in many Greek plays, Oedipus tries to run from his prophecy and ends up fulfilling exactly what it is foretold. Through the play we see that Oedipus posses many of the characteristics

Oedipus begins to realize that he is wrong and that the prophet is right. Oedipus talks to Jocasta, who heard from the one man who went home safe from the murder. The man said that it was more than one robber that killed Laius and if that is true the prophet is wrong “I’ll tell you; if I find that his story is the same as yours…clearly the burden of the guilt inclines towards me.” (Sophocles 974-982). Oedipus left Corinth in attempts to escape his fate, but he is wanted to be the king. The messenger tells Oedipus that who he thought was his father (Polybus) is in fact not his father. (Sophocles 1147-1149). The messenger then told Oedipus that he was taken from a Shepard, the Shepard of Laius. (Sophocles 1182-1188) it is said that Laius’s son had his feet pierced and when the messenger was telling Oedipus about where he came from who told him that his feet were pierced giving more proof that Oedipus I indeed the son of Laius. After knowing this the king brought forth the Shepard who then made it clear that he was the son of Laius. (1329-1339) Oedipus accepted his fate and said in lines 1363 through 1368

Oedipus faces a terrible fate, but he is stubborn and ignores reality throughout the story

"Oedipus the King" is a tragic play showing a shift from the belief of fate to freedom of choice. Therefore, Oedipus the king is a great example of those who run from fate ends up fulfilling their fate