Oedipus Fate

A person’s actions, feelings and behaviour towards others all largely impact their own future. Some citizens in society tend to make bad decisions in their lives and create trouble for themselves all because they did not take time to consider the influence they have upon themselves and those around them. Acting without thinking of the repercussions and behaving in difficult ways are just some examples of how people cause their own fate. One man that demonstrates these issues and causes major problems for himself is Oedipus. Oedipus’ pride, impetuous behaviour and lack of insight ultimately determine his inevitable fate.

Sophocles wrote “Oedipus Rex” on C. 430 B.C.E as part of a trilogy, Oedipus the King was later translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald which still conveyed the dramatic twist of fate in this historic play. The introduction of this play begins with Oedipus’s father Laïos, King of Thebes, being warned through a prophecy that his son will kill him and marry his wife Iocaste, Queen of Thebes. Knowing that this could be his future Laïos try his best to change his fate, not knowing his fate was already doomed. Unable to kill his own son, Laïos orders one of his herdsmen to his three day old son. The herdsman could not find it in himself to commit such as heinous crime, he maims the baby by stabbing him in his foot (this where Oedipus name originates from, which means swollen foot) and gives him to another herdsman so he can Oedipus. Instead of killing Oedipus the second herdsman gives the baby to his king who does not have children and raises baby Oedipus as his own. Oedipus grows up and hears of the prophecy, frightened of his destiny flees from his adopted kingdom of Corinth and winds up back where he is conceived. Since he believes his adopted parents are his biological parents, because he was never told he was adopted, he unknowingly kills his biological father and then saves Thebes from the Sphinx. The people of Thebes rewards Oedipus by making him the King of Thebes and made Iocates his bride. By doing this the prophecy is fulfilled. You have to know where you

In Sophocles' Oedipus the King, the element of fate versus freewill shows up frequently all through the play. It is foreseen to Oedipus' parents, Jocasta and Laius, that their child would grow up to slaughter his father and wed his mother. Jocasta and Laius endeavor to dispose of their child, however, fate triumphs. Oedipus' fate all through the play has been chosen by the fate which adds to his annihilation. Various societies and cultures all through history have embraced similar perspectives, accepting a fate or destiny for their lives. Such points of view are very common is Greek myths who had confidence in "the three Fates" — goddesses who controlled the lives of individuals and the world in general. Clotho the youngest spins the thread of human life. She decides who will be born and when. Lachesis, a matron, measures the thread deciding a person’s lot in life. She is shown with a measuring stick, a scroll, a book, or a globe that represents the horoscope. Atropos, the oldest, choses the mechanism of death and ends the life of each mortal by cutting their thread. She is usually portrayed with a cutting instrument, a scroll, a wax tablet, a sundial, or a pair of scales. Even in modern day, some Christian philosophies incorporate destiny as fate. Many Jews acknowledge that their God has an arrangement for their people and nation.

Fate as defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary is ‘an inevitable and often adverse outcome, condition, or end’. Sophocles discusses fate vs free will in his plays. In the play Oedipus Rex there was a prophecy that Oedipus was destined to kill his father and marry his mother, he attempts to escape his destiny by running away to Thebes where he meets his fate. In the play Antigone, that main character Antigone decides to go against Creon’s (her uncle who has inherited the throne) decree and bury the brother, Polynices, knowing the consequences would lead to her death. In Sophocles’ plays Oedipus Rex and Antigone, the theme is mankind not being able to escape their fate.

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.

Sophocles suggests that fate can play a role in one's failure, however Oedipus is the one that brings about his own doom. While trying to figure out who killed Kking Laïos, Oedipus begins to realize that the evidence points to himself. “Where is a man more miserable than I?/More hated by the gods? Citizen and alien alike/Must never shelter or speak to me--/I must be shunned by all/And I myself/Pronounced this malediction upon myself!”(Sophocles 43).

“O God! It has all come true. Light let this be the last time I see you. I stand revealed- born in shame, married in shame, and unnatural murder!” (69). This is how Oedipus’s life has been since he can start to remember things in life with full of fear,angs,despair and also with a phobia. His phobia was to find his parents and doing what the prophecy said, to marry his own mother and killed his dad. Oedipus had to go through a lot, since the story started it shows the reader how many tragedies he had to go through, his whole life is a catastrophe. One of the main tragedies that hurt Oedipus the most was marrying his mom. The most unforgettable tragedy was killing his own dad and finally having to abandon his own children.

It is the responsibility of man to take ownership of his destiny which separates the human condition for that of other earthly beasts. From birth, Oedipus, the tragic hero of Sophocles’ Greek Tragedy Oedipus Rex, is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Although by the opening act of the play, Oedipus has earned the throne of Thebes for solving the riddle of the Sphinx, the eponymous character is unaware that he has already fulfilled his prophecy. Meanwhile, the people of Thebes are dying of a plague that will only end when the unknown murderer of Laius, the previous Theban King, is punished. Through retrospection, Oedipus believes that he might be responsible for Laius death and is told that the King and Queen of Corinth who

It may be fair to say that Oedipus was doomed by fate at the beginning of his life. Maybe it may not be fair to blame him for committing murder on his own father. Was it in self-defense? I don’t think so. Oedipus thought about his father as being in power that he did not possess his father taking his bed having children with his wife and if his father had lived their son would be his brother. Laios could not father children. Oedipus would have fought to find out who killed the child of Labdakos and Polydrous' child, in Oedipus speech at the beginning he realizes later that he was the one who killed his father. "It was done out of rage". Rationalizing why he committed these acts is one of Oedipus many tragic flaws. Everything that happened to

Escaping fate is something that no human on this earth can do. No one can escape it. For an example, trying to escape death. No matter how much a person diets, or exercise, or even doing the things the doctors told them to be healthy, everyone’s fate is to die one day. Dealing with the story Oedipus, it is based off of his fate and how it will be effecting others around him.

Fate is something one cannot escape and is out of one's control. In Oedipus The King the king and queen of Thebes have been told of a prophecy, that one day Oedipus their child will kill the king, his father. To divert this future mishappening the king had ordered a kill order to kill Oedipus, to eliminate the prophecy. Nonetheless the Shepherd did not kill him and Oedipus was sent away from Thebes to another family. Oedipus having the talk with drunk man at the Corinth about the truth of his life, sparked his fate of his father’s fate being killed by him.

All throughout literature, readers are left dumbfounded at the outcome of certain characters. Often times, the general conclusion of unfortunate results is simple: fate. In Ancient Greece, it was a common belief that your whole life was thoroughly planned out by the many Gods and one’s specific plan was inevitable. In Oedipus the King, this theme of fate is prominent throughout the work and is essential to reader’s understanding of the character’s and their actions. Sophocles followed basic Greek philosophy of fate upon writing Oedipus.

Fate played an important part in the plays and literature of the Greeks as is shown in Sophocles' play

Meyer Fortes explains the two ways Greeks understood fate or moira in his work on “Oedipus and a Job”. Fortes defines fate to its original meaning of lot and portion. He found that the first aspect was impersonal and focused on the “supreme over both gods and men” (50). With this Fortes means that actions are being determined by other things beyond the individual’s control like gods. The impersonal aspect could also be considered as the deterministic view of fate. The second aspect was individual, being that each person has a “particular apportionment of good and evil. . . which is decided at birth” (Fortes 50). Forte means to say that the individual’s good and evil is given to them at birth. Yet, Fortes speaks directly about Oedipus adding that, “an individual’s fate is in part determined by the fate of his parents and in turn affects that of his offspring” (50). Here Fortes is trying to say that there were so many different things that took shape of Oedipus’ life and that of his offspring’s. At the very beginning Oedipus’ life took shape because of Laius and Jocasta, first they his life formed but later they tried to take in away because of an oracle. As Oedipus’ life continued he would make decisions that would ultimately lead him to his own demise. Finally the decisions that Oedipus made in his lifetime would negatively affect his children.

Oedipus the King would not have been successful throughout centuries as a tragic play, if Oedipus were clearly responsible for his own tragedy. The play's ongoing success was do to Oedipus' innocence which immediately makes one think he can not be fully responsible and to blame. I do not believe Sophocles would have wrote the story, or I do not think people would have ever read it or studied it had it simply been a story of a criminal's retribution. Sophocles himself believed Oedipus to be the innocent victim of an ironic tragedy, and built the play around this belief. This story was destined to happen and I believe the author would agree. The story revolves around destiny, the resistance of people to it and the ultimate ending of destiny