Fate And Choice In Sophocles Oedipus The King

In the Greek tragedy, Oedipus the King, the irony of fate brings the downfall of Oedipus. Fate, in this story affects three specific characters. The gods have already decreed Oedipus and Jocasta’s fate even before they know it. Their fate was in fact decreed the day they were born, and trying to avoid seems to have been pointless.

Many people believe that fate has planned out their lives and despite efforts on their part what was meant to happen, will eventually happen. This belief has been handed down over the centuries from some of the first civilizations, such as the Greeks. However, not all Greek citizens wanted destiny to take control of their lives. Some decided to choose freewill over the will of the gods. In Oedipus the King, Sophocles writes a cautionary tale meant to warn the doubters in Greek society that regardless of their beliefs in gods and prophecies, it is necessary to heed their warnings. Oedipus, Jocasta, and Laius are Sophocles’ characters that prove that escaping one’s fate is not possible, as each of their predicted fates is realized despite extensive efforts to thwart them.

As Oedipus was born into royalty, he started his life in a condemned manner. At only a few days old, Oedipus’ family tried to stop the prophecy that was given by the oracle. Clearly worried about the message, the King took matters into his own hands trying to stop a per-determined fate. “He wasn’t three days old and the boy’s father fastened

Fate and free will played major parts in creating the characters and stories in many of the Greek mythologies and tragedies. The Greeks believes that the Gods and the Oracle's could predict a person's fate before or after birth, and that no one, even the Gods could intervene in that person's fate. They also believed that a person's or God could not create their own fate. This belief stems from the three fates: sisters, The Moirai or Fates were three sister deities, incarnations of destiny and life. Because of these three old women, fate could not be avoided or altered. As such with these stories, in the Iliad fate leads Achilles down his path of glory and his early demise, and cause Oedipus to sleep with his own mother and kill his father. Free will is the power of acting without constraint and fate; acting by one's own decisions. Even though Achilleus and Oedipus have fate, they both also have free will. For instance, Achilles has a double fate: if he goes home, he will live long without glory or if he stays at Troy, he will have lots of glory, but a short life. As such, in Sophocles Oedipus the King, when Oedipus was born he was fated to kill his father and lay with his mother, thought his ability of free will caused his fate to come true.

Sophocles states that “Fate has terrible power. You cannot escape it by wealth or war. No fort will keep it out, no ships outrun it.” Fate derives from a Latin word, fatum, meaning that one’s future is predetermined. In Oedipus Rex, Sophocles unfolds the misfortune of a noble king who searches for knowledge. Evidently, Greek heroes like Oedipus are destined to rule, but are also bound to fall, therefore, he cannot alter his own fate. This tragic play proves that the power of fate is indeed stronger than one’s free will. Despite his attempts to fight his destiny, Oedipus can never outrun his fate. Regardless of his parents’ desperation to evade the predicted outcome, fate guides his journey for knowledge, leading to his destruction.

In Oedipus the king, the gods chose the fate for a few of the characters,and the characters did not want to accept what the gods thad their fate to be. A few

Does fate control us or do we control fate? This question has been posed many times by numerous amounts of people. The struggle with answering this question is that one cannot know their effect on fate if that fate is not known. To combat the difficulties of answering this question directly one can look toward philosophy and literature to approach this question in a more direct manner. Through the philosophic ideologies presented in Epictetus’s Handbook and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, one can observe how to approach fate and free will. In addition, looking at the literature of Macbeth, Oedipus The Tyrant, and Frederick Douglass’s Narrative, one can analyze examples of the relationship between fate and free will. Taking these philosophic approaches and applying them to literary examples, one can see how fate merely establishes events in life while free will allows for change to it.

For many years people have relied on fate to take them on a journey to a specific outcome. Although at times fate can have a mind of its own and creates a path to someone’s own demise. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles both portray fate as a significant theme in their literary works. The theme is used in both works to drive the plots and create a twist towards the resolution of the works. The way both authors implemented fate through their literary works is by establishing a major event that determines an outcome, making their characters realize their wrong decisions and using free will to set things right, and developed a final reaction of how fate affected the characters lives.

Sophocles’ play brings up the complex issues about the relationship between human’s free will and fate predestined by the Gods. It examines the nature of human confidence to defy fate as well as human’s limited ability against the unknown force that they do not completely understand (p. 609). Several remarks were made in the play to question the authority of the divine powers. If the prophecies are wrong, however, how could the play ends with the realization of the prophecies? It is because of fate serves as the framework for Oedipus’ frailties in the play. Oedipus was originally bound by his fate. However, his downfall was brought upon more by the irrational decisions he

Over the years, most people have wondered what Free will and Fate are all about. Questions like “can people escape their fate?” will always be around as long as we think of them as important points of our life to take care of. In Oedipus Tyrannus, a play written by Sophocles, the concepts of fate and free will are highly regarded in the play’s theme. Through the play, we are shown how a series of events take a man from living a normal life to the fulfilling of a cruel prediction which started long before he was born.

Fate and justice could potentially change any events in a life with proving the rights and the wrongs in a fair way. In Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King, fate and justice are both determined by random chances, not higher power. Random chances can occur unexpectedly in the play, and can change the interpretation of it. In Greek mythology, the Gods control the unexpected, but connect with an oracle—who is a priest—to communicate to the people. In the beginning of the play, a random chance occured when the oracle prophesized the banishment of Oedipus by his birth parents, on the top of a mountain, to be killed. Three days into Oedipus’ birth, the father has “cast him forth upon a pathless hillside” (827-828) to die, slowly and painfully. This

Destined to kill his father and marry his own mother Oedipus is cursed. When people find out about the curse, Laius, the king of

Clearly depicted, in Oedipus the King, is the Greek 's popular belief that fate will control a man 's life in spite of man 's free will. Throughout the story, the concept of fate and free will plays an integral part in Oedipus ' destruction and ultimately the death of his family. Destined to marry his mother and murder his father, Oedipus was guided by fate. When Oedipus learns of his fate he immediately tries to prevent it, as did his mother and father. This prophecy, as warned by the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi, was absolute and would inevitably come to pass. As for free will, Oedipus ' actions, temper, impulsive nature and pride (hubris) as well as his poor judgment (hamartia) all contributed to his eventual downfall because he made those choices. Fate, in Oedipus the King, is understood to be what is going to happen or what the gods make happen. The gods have control of what happens in the story. Therefore, while it seems Oedipus has free will, his fate is determined by the gods which limits and compels Oedipus to make certain personal choices.

Clearly, the friend declared, Oedipus was aware that he alone was responsible for his actions.  Moreover, the friend also stressed the fact that if Oedipus was not responsible for his actions, then he could not be viewed as a tragic figure since he would be a mere puppet of fate or the gods.  I was not prepared to argue one so scholarly as my friend, so I stayed silent.  Roy, my roomate, and the friend then discussed whether Oedipus's explosive temper was a tragic flaw. The friend believed that his volatile temper was one factor that contributed to his downfall.  I cannot remember now the salient points of Roy's argument, but I do recall that I partook in the debate by urging my friend to look at Oedipus as a hero who was trying to assert his rights, as a hero who was trying to defend his honor, when he slew those who violated his right of way on that fateful day where the three highways came together:

Oedipus the King, a greek tragedy, is the story of a man's struggle against his fate.