Free Will In Oedipus The King

The definition of fate is the development of events beyond a person’s control. (New Oxford American Dictionary) In the context of Oedipus Rex, fate is determined by the will of the gods given through oracles. Teiresias prophesied that Oedipus would fall from grace. Oedipus dismissed this as an accusation from a crazed, blind man, but in the end he did lose everything. Laius was prophesied to be killed by his child.

Oedipus’ actions are all fated together. Jokasta, Oedipus’ wife, widow of King Laios, calms Oedipus and tells him not to worry about Tireasias’ prophecy. She tells Oedipus that prophecies are not always accurate and fate does not exist. Jokasta tells him, “A long time back, an oracle reached Laios- / … / It said that Laios was destined to die / at the hand of a son born to him and me.” She continues, “Laios pinned its ankle joints together, / … / That time Apollo failed to make Laios die” (726). Laios was fated to be killed by his own son; instead, he was killed by bandits where the three roads meet. So the prophecy was false. Jokasta’s words hits Oedipus. Oedipus’ ankles were injured since birth. At a young age, an oracle tells Oedipus that he will kill his father and sleep with his mother, he ran away to Thebes, without knowing his parents are not his biological parents. The intersection of the three paths was where he killed in self defense when he ran away from home. Oedipus’ choice was to run away thinking it’ll prevent the prophecy. But because of his actions, he killed his

Equally important to the role of fate in bringing about the downfall of Oedipus is the human flaw of arrogance that clouded Oedipus’ intellect to reason. One can ultimately see this human flaw in the beginning of the play as he says “Here I am myself – you all know me, the world knows my fame: I am Oedipus” (p 262, line 7-9). One day Oedipus heard someone say that he wasn’t his father’s son in which bothered him greatly and triggered his curiosity in whether Polybus and Merope were his biological parents. So, as a way to figure out his identity and true origins, he left to Delphi to see the Oracle. However, instead of answering Oedipus’ answer of who his true parents were, the Oracle told him of his fate that “You are fated to couple with your mother, you will bring a breed of children into the light no man can bear to see – you will kill your father the one who gave you life” (p. 297, lines 873-875). Hence, his arrogance is clearly showed as he disregards the prophecy, similar to the actions of Laius and Jocasta by escaping it, as he abandons Corinth and sets forth to a place where he “would never see the shame of all those oracles come true” (p. 297, lines 879-880). His flaw of

Furthermore, later in the play we have many things happening, with the introduction of the crossroad and the continuation of Oedipus’s arrogance. Firstly, Jocasta recounts the story of how Laius was murdered at a three-way crossroad by some thieves. What is important about the story is not just that Oedipus could be, and is, the murderer, but also that he had a choice. The definition of a crossroad is literally, the crossing of two or more paths. Fate crossed Laius and Oedipus’s paths at the crossroad, but Oedipus was given the opportunity to choose a path. He did not have to fulfill his destiny and kill Laius; he could have chosen an alternative path. Nonetheless, his superciliousness blinded him from handling the situation without violence. Therefore, once again we see how his blindness persists to be the vain of his existence.

Oedipus the King by Sophocles is the story of a man who was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. The story continues in the tradition of classic Greek plays, which were based upon the Greeks’ beliefs at the time. The ancient Greeks believed that their gods decided what would ultimately happen to each and every person. Since those gods destined Oedipus to kill his father and marry his mother, Oedipus’ life was definitely fated. However, the gods only decided where Oedipus’ life would eventually lead; they never planned the route he would take to get there. All the decisions that Oedipus made in order to fulfill his destiny, and the decisions he made after the fact, were of his own free will,

In Oedipus the King all three characters: Oedipus, Jocasta, and Laius are all seen as tragic figures and victims of Fate. Throughout the play, characteristics of free will are what brought the destruction and downfall of each of these characters. It was Oedipus’s pursuit of knowledge and identity, Jocasta’s arrogance of the prophecy, and Laius and Jocasta’s attempt to avoid the prophecy by killing Oedipus that led to their tragic endings. It how these feuding concepts of Fate vs Freewill mix together that make up the Greek Tragedy. Sophocles Ultimately ends Oedipus the King with the belief that free willed decisions and actions cannot overcome and defeat fate.

In Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, the idea of fate and destiny is brought to the forefront of the play. The idea of fate is incredibly prevalent in the play and drives a significant amount of the plot. The most important example of fate in the play is the prophecy that Oedipus is doomed to follow. The prophecy that Oedipus is supposed to fall victim to is revealed to the audience by Teiresias, a paraphrasing of the prophecy is “he’ll have no joy of the discovery: blindness for sight and beggary for the riches his exchange, he shall go journeying to a foreign country tapping his way before him with a stick. He shall be proved father and brother both to his own children in his house; to her that gave him birth, a son and husband both; a fellow sower in his father’s bed with that same father that he murdered” (Sophocles, 504-513). Even though, many of the seeds of this

Throughout the story, the audiences most obvious prediction is for Oedipus to stick to what he said, and get rid of King Laius murderer, who was not expected to be Oedipus. The irony in this situation is when the audience finds out the truth that Oedipus was the killer, because it is the opposite of what you expected. The fate in this example is that fate led Oedipus to being the killer. Lastly, Oedipus runs away from his “parents” so he wouldn’t kill his father, but that ended up leading him to his real father and killing him. In trying to avoid fate, Oedipus still fulfills Apollo’s prophecy.

Oedipus was destined to kill his father and marry his mother, according to the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. He unsuccessfully tried to change his fate, when he left Corinth for Thebes for fear that he might kill Polybus. On the way he killed Laius, his biological father. Another time he attempted to avoid his fate was when

In the play of “Oedipus the King”, Oedipus, the new ruler of Thebes, receives the task to find the murderer of Laius, the former king. Throughout the course of the play, Oedipus learns of a prophecy and his inevitable fate. The prophecy states he will marry his mother and kill his father. Though he tries to deny his fate, he is lead to his inescapable downfall by being blinded and exiled from Thebes. In the play Oedipus is innocent, but the gods have predetermined his fate by manipulating what he perceives as

Oedipus’ fate is one that he learns relatively early in his life, and takes measures to avoid; however, ultimately the measures that he takes to avoid his fate are what bring it about. Oedipus is told that “what will be, will be” (Sophocles 35) no matter what he does, but nevertheless he chooses not to listen and instead tries to hunt down the truth, despite being told to “not do [this]” (Sophocles 55). In this, Sophocles presents the reader with the greatest irony of the entire play: by utilising his free will to try to escape his fate, Oedipus only manages to fulfill his fate. Upon hearing of Oedipus’ horrible misfortune, the Chorus proclaims “all the generations of mortal man add up to nothing” (Sophocles 59). In the end, the choices Oedipus made in life didn’t change anything; he still fulfilled the prophecy by wedding his mother and killing his father. However, this is not to say that Oedipus didn’t possess or utilize free will. In life, Oedipus acts on his own terms; however, at the same time Oedipus’ life is heavily influenced by his refusal to accept his fate. By placing the concepts of fate and free will so closely together, Sophocles forces the reader to consider their relationship with each other. The Shepherd tells Oedipus “If you are the man, O then your life is lost” (Sophocles 58). This starkly

The chaos of searching creates suffering as he had to fish around and accept the truth. Throughout the play he is driven to his destiny through actions. Without knowing himself he puts a curse on the murderer of King Laius. Ending his speech to the people of Thebes with, “Full knowledge,/ may the curse I just called down on him strike me!(Sophocles 285-286).” The irony is Oedipus is the cursed man and will soon realize it. His own words bring forth his fate as he was blind to himself but thought otherwise. He created the path to his own anguish. The implication of avoiding the oracle also comes up. His free will and fear of shaming his parents made him flee them. Oedipus thought he could avoid the oracle but fate is unavoidable. His search for the truth only creates disaster. As Jocasta realizes the oracle came true she begs son to abandon search to his origins. Only because it will bring anguish. As she says, “man of agony-/ that is the only name I have for you,/ that, no other (1176-79).” He only makes discovery of self filled with pain. Oedipus is obliviously unaware of of his origins. If discovered a commoner or slave he would be shaming wife but that is not the truth and Jocasta knows. Instead his actions to discover self will bring his downfall. His past brings the end of everyone in his life; thus his fate brought nothing but agony. There are several points where could have reflected outcome of actions but does

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.

By definition fate is “the development of events beyond a person’s control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power.” The key concept being the fact that events are beyond a person’s control. And if they are beyond our control, then how can anyone be held accountable for any crime they’ve committed or bad decision they’ve made. But if we throw the idea of fate out the window, then we are left with only free will controlling our lives. So in the story of Oedipus the King whether or not Oedipus is at fault for killing his father and sleeping with his mother is completely dependent on what side wins out in the battle of fate versus free will.

Fate and free will shows up in many stories, and plays a vital role in building up a character, or leading to their downfall. Fate and free will is a big theme in Oedipus Rex, and is the building bone to many of the characters lives. In Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, Oedipus becomes king of Thebes. Before Oedipus came into power, the previous king of Thebes, Laius, was mysteriously murdered. A Sphinx came into power as the city had no king. However, Oedipus is able to save the city by answering the riddle told by the Sphinx, which no one else could figure out. The people of the city praise him for freeing them and Oedipus becomes king, and marries Jocasta. He is a strong and brave leader who is respected by the people of Thebes. However, after