Oedipus The King: Fate Vs. Free Will

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 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,

Oedipus the King, was written by Sophocles between C.A.496-406B.C. In this play, Oedipus is a great example of Sophocles’ belief that fate will control a man’s life no matter how much free will exists.

victim of fate and his own psychology. His curiosity brings about his downfall. Ancient Greek plays weren't just portrayals of some obscure tale, but were insights into human nature. Oedipus, although a victim of circumstances, digs his own grave by curiously unravelling his past. Jocasta foresees his doom and begs him to stop, but to no avail. The curiosity of Oedipus forces him, almost like a drug, to explore the mystery regarding his birth. This curiosity is not something extraordinary in Oedipus - it is an intrinsic attribute of human nature.Knowledge is not always desired - whether it is Adam or Oedipus, their curiosity caused their eventual downfall. Oedipus was ill-fated since birth. He did not know that Laius was his biological father and therefore killed him. He arrived at Thebes, solved the riddle of the Sphinx, and married Jocasta without knowing that she in fact was his biological mother.He begot children and was living happily with his family when a sudden calamity struck Thebes. The calamity, though at first seemed public in nature, but later proved to be very personal for Oedipus. It drives home the fundamental truth about uncertainty of human life. That Laius was slayed by his own son, even after much precaution, proves the helplessness of humans in front of the designs of fate.Oedipus's mutilation of his eyes is also fated. It was committed by him in the heat of the moment and was certainly not a rational decision. It is evident to any modern reader that

Some people believe that you have no control over your life, that your life is predetermined and nothing you do will change it. Others believe that everything in life is a result of your own actions, and calling it fate is a way of negating your own responsibility. Many myths deal with this idea of destiny, and if it is possible to alter it. People may not believe that destiny controls anything in our lives, but if it does, can we change it? The protagonists in The Epic of Gilgamesh and Oedipus the King both attempt to change their destiny, but no matter how they change their ways, or how much they fight it, they are unsuccessful.

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

“Fate has terrible power. You cannot escape it by wealth or war. No fort will keep it out, no ships outrun it.” Sophocles explains in this quote that no force can stop the unbeatable power of fate, a theme that is present throughout his play, Oedipus the King. Oedipus, the protagonist, is fated by the gods to marry his mother and kill his father. Therefore, he moves away from Corinth in order to try and avoid his fate and becomes the king of Thebes. A few years later, Thebes is wracked with plague and hardships, and Creon, Oedipus’s brother-in-law, is sent to find out why. When Creon returns with an oracle from Apollo, he explains that the hardships of Thebes are happening because the murderer of Laius, the former king

After receiving knowledge of the prophecy, Oedipus flees from who he believes to be his parents. By attempting to avoid his foretold fate, he sets himself upon a path that ends with him murdering Laius and being wed to Jocasta; thus bringing about the realization of the prophecy. Oedipus recalls that, “ [Apollo] foretold … that I was fated to lie with my mother, and show to daylight an accursed breed which men would not endure, and I was doomed to be murdered of the father that begot me.” Oedipus flees, apparently believing that his mortal feet could carry him to where a god’s prophecy cannot touch him. In attempt to interrupt his fate, Oedipus flees from the man and woman he believes to be his parents, “ When I heard this I fled, and in the days that followed I would measure from the stars the whereabouts of Corinth-yes, I fled to somewhere where I should not see fulfilled the infamies told in that dreadful oracle.”

The play, Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, one of the ancient Greek tragedians, examines fate and justice determined by a higher power over random chance due to: fate taking Oedipus in the same path even after attempts of prevention during his childhood, fate causing the future to remain a secret even when talking to Teiresias, and justice causing the death of both his parents for their crimes. In further explanation, even after Laius, the father of Oedipus, attempts to murder his son and after leaving him isolated on a hillside which later separates Oedipus from his biological parents, fate still takes Oedipus in the path that was told. Jocasta says, "And for the son-before three days were out after his birth King Laius pierced his ankles and by the

Aeschylus writes a trilogy relating to Oedipus and his family. In the very beginning of Oedipus’ life story, his parents sought to find out what his fate would be and for advice. An oracle is someone who gets their advice or prophecy from a god or gods. Oracles are looked at as an infallible from of authority or guidance. They cannot be wrong or questioned. The oracle had stated that Oedipus would murder his father and marry his own mother, so his parents attempted to stop this fate from occurring by dumping him as a baby somewhere, leaving him to die. This shows how the gods have control over fate no matter who tries to change it. He ends up growing up and accidentally killing his father at crossroads without ever knowing him before that. Oedipus then returns to Thebes and no one knows his true identity. He solves a riddle for a sphinx, to save the people of Thebes, and becomes king soon after. The queen does of course end up being the queen. This fulfills his fate of killing his father and marrying his mother that was made by the gods. After entering Thebes a plague is cast upon all of the people living there. The oracle tells the people that the murderer of the previous king is among them and is the cause of this plague. Oedipus slowly starts to realize that he could possibly be the murderer, but denies it. The oracle then tells the people that is in fact Oedipus, so it must be true, since the gods speak to him. At this time he and his mother have already had children together. He then blinds himself by stabbing his very own eyes and banishes himself from Thebes. Just because his life was full of sins, his children are cursed by the gods. His two sons end up going to battle

Fate; as described earlier, is the development of events outside anyone's control and no matter how rich and powerful one person may be, it is still impossible to change one's destiny and sophocles hints at this all throughout the play. “ There was an oracle once that came to Laius and it told him that it was fate that he should die at the hands of his own son.” Theses are the exact words that Jocasta uttered to Oedipus and they happen to be the same exact thing that Teiresias told Oedipus. “ I say you are the murderer of the king whose murderer you seek…. He shall be proven father and brother both to his own children in his own house; her that gave him birth, a son and a husband both; a fellow sower in his father's bed with the same father that he murdered” It is not pure coincidence that Oedipus; having heard this from two different oracles, and jocasta hearing it from a completely different person; no, it is fate itself showing that no one can change their own

The Determined Will of Oedipus Rex Since the dawn of humanity, man has struggled and persevered through nature’s unforgiving vicissitudes, but emerged fervently from them with the stern intent of actuating his ever-evolving desires. The debate between determinism and free will has raged since antiquity, due to the main difference between them, which lies in the element of control; the one outer and the other inner, respectively. Determinism, more commonly known as fate, is the "philosophical idea that every event or state of affairs, including every human decision and action, is the inevitable and necessary consequence of antecedent states of affairs" (Stanford). Free will, per contra, is the "power of acting without the constraint of necessity

Throughout the play, Oedipus is indirectly approaching his fate without consent or consciousness of this approach. Although the oracle had previously warned Oedipus about his coming fate, Oedipus—with his notorious arrogance— did not want to listen to the words being spoken by his brother-in-law and uncle because Oedipus strongly believed in Creon ’s massive thirst for the thrown. The idea of fate became part of Oedipus’s life after he is sent to Corinth to another family. Although the oracle at Delphi was Apollo’s direct messenger on earth, Oedipus’s egocentric attitude made him become blind to the path set for him. Fate is directly implied when Tiresias enters the room and states that, “Is that so! I charge you, then, submit to that decree you just laid down: from this day onward speak to no one, not these citizens, not myself. You are the curse, the corruption of the land”(Oedipus the King, Sophocles, 398-401). Furthermore, Oedipus becomes a victim of his fate rather than its controller. No matter where Oedipus ran, his fate would follow on to his footstep. The fact that Oedipus could not escape his fate emphasizes upon how the choices one makes in his/her

Sophocles' Oedipus the King is a tragedy in which fate is the culprit in destroying the lives of several people. It tells the tragic story of Oedipus, a man who unknowingly murdered his own father and then married and fathered children with his own birthmother. But for a long period of time, Oedipus was ignorant of his true actions, until a plague descended on the city where Oedipus was king: Thebes. When Oedipus sent to the oracle at Delphi for aid in ending the terrible plague, the answer he received was that the murderer of the previous king of Thebes, Laius, must be found and punished. And since Oedipus had arrived in the city of Thebes only after the previous king was murdered, "Oedipus was beyond suspicion and consequently the appointed person to carry out the divine command." (Ramphos, 39) In a speech to the city's populace, Oedipus informed them of the oracle's message and made a personal plea for information leading to the capture of the murderer. Then he made his own prophecy as to what he would personally do to aid the capture of the cause of Thebe's plague. In the following 20 lines, Oedipus then went on to prophesize about the discovery of his own past actions, his fate and what would ultimately turn out to be his own future.

As fate would play out Oedipus was taken to the Corinth and raised by Polybius and Merope king and queen on Corinth. While Oedipus was there he found about his fate and to spare his mother and father he fled Corinth. Little did Oedipus know that they were not his actual parents. Oedipus ended up killing his father on the crossroads and went on to marry his mother Jocasta. As the play unravels Jocasta and Oedipus are married and a plague has hit Thebes. The only way to rid the plague is for Oedipus to find and banish the killer of Laius. As Oedipus tries to unravel this mystery and clues start to unravel it seems that Oedipus might be the son of Laius completing the prophecy that the oracle claimed. Jocasta is starting to realize that Oedipus is her son. She seems she might be afraid to lose power and doesn’t want Oedipus to find out the truth. She attempts to stop Oedipus from figuring out the mystery but Oedipus being hubris decided to go through with it to find out the prophecy was true and he had already completed it. Jocasta couldn’t bear to live with this and hung herself, whereas Oedipus gouged his eyes out and banished himself from Thebes.