Oedipus The King: Fate Vs Free Will

It is also fate that Oedipus was cursed and has to avoid it. Because the prophecy applies to him, he tries to avoid the outcome by escaping it, but he can’t escape his fate. “Revealed at last, brother and father both to the children he embraces, to his mother son and husband both--he sowed the loins his father sowed, he spilled his father’s blood!” (281). The truth was revealed by Tiresias and in fact, it already had happened to Oedipus even though he tried so hard to avoid it. But after the truth was revealed, Oedipus cannot change what he had already done. Similarly,

In his essay, “Introduction to Oedipus the King”, Bernard Knox supports free will by stating that Oedipus’ downfall was not caused by fate. According to Knox there is not a doubt that, “Oedipus is the free agent who, by his own self-willed action, discovers that his own predicted destiny has already been fulfilled” (86). He clearly states that Oedipus is responsible for his free actions during the play. He insists that Oedipus’s made the decisions to discover the truth about himself.

In our world today, fate and free will remains the biggest mystery of all; is everything we do controlled or do we have the freedom of choice? In the story "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles, the author uses the idea of fate and free will to explain the struggle of Oedipus's life. Fate and free will is explained as; fate is controlled by an outside supernatural force, and there is no way of controlling it. Free will is when each of us is responsible and controls all aspects of our own life. The author of "Oedipus the King" uses ironic devices to convey a tragic attitude toward the struggle of fate and free will.

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.

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

Free will comes into play when Oedipus chose to start a fight with the other caravan and if he did not he would have avoided his fate. Another decision is when he is asked to be king and eventually he does, but that leads to him

Large-scale questions of such ideas are raised in Sophocles’ play, “Oedipus the King”—a story that deals with the tragic hero, Oedipus, and his demise. Oedipus progresses through the play struggling against his own wicked destiny: the prophecy that declares that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Ultimately, Oedipus fulfills this prophecy; in fact, he had completed his fate without his own knowing and before the play even begins. Despite his belief that he was fighting against his prophesized destiny, Oedipus was ironically fulfilling it, and he slowly brings about his own downfall. He becomes a victim of his own fate. In this regard, “Oedipus the King” explores a terrifying concept: Oedipus never had free will—a puppet in every sense to the higher beings that decided his ending for him.

“Oedipus the King”, ultimately suggests that regardless of free will, fate is inevitable. Attempting to control the outcome of one’s fate does not go over well without proper acquisition of valuable knowledge. In the case of Oedipus the King, his efforts to seek the truth

In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, the theme of fate versus free will appears often throughout the play. It is prophesied to Oedipus’s parents, that their son would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. “Their attempt to assert their free will is foiled when fate intervenes, in the form of the “good will” of a Shepherd who spares the infant’s life”(McHough4). The parents try to get rid of the son but fate doesn’t allow this to happen. Oedipus’ fate throughout the play has been decided by the prophecy, which contributes to his destruction. , Oedipus’s fate is not complete before the beginning of the play (134). Apollo is aware Oedipus is guilty of killing his father so when Apollo asks for Laius’s killer to be found, Oedipus will find

Some believe that their lives and the events that take place within it are left up to fate, while others strive to make their own destinies. Fate is defined as events that develop in a manner that is out of one’s own control. Events that some believe would have occurred regardless of ones efforts. While free will is defined as the power to shape one’s own future through ones actions. The complete disregard of fate and supposed predetermined events. The tale of Sophocles, Oedipus The King is a good example of fate in action. Oedipus’s misfortune followed him relentlessly wherever he went, regardless of his choices. While the tale of Hamlet shows Hamlet making conscious decisions that effected his life in powerful ways that could have been avoided had he made other decisions.

Oedipus remains enraged with Teriesias and Creon, after accusing Creon  of being a murderer and trying to steal the throne. However, Jocasta tells Oedipus that an oracle once told Laios that “his doom would be death at the hands of his own son,” but “his child had not been three days old before the King  had pierced the baby’s ankles and left him to die on a mountainside.” With this new information, Oedipus’s anger softens to contemplation as he recalls “ a shadowy memory” that “chilled [his] heart.”  After asking Jocasta to detail what Laios looked like and the number of men that escorted the King, Oedipus abandons his hostility and finally, after comprehension of the new facts, declares “I think that I myself may be accurst by my own ignorant edict.” Unfortunately, Oedipus remains unaware that the new information makes him the murderer of Laios. Instead,  Oedipus is still unsure and asks to talk to the sole

Thesis: Is Oedipus free or fated? Free will is the power of acting without the constraint of necessity. Fate is events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power. The research will give both agreements as to whether it had the free will to choose his destiny or it was just his fate.

The messenger tells him that Polybus wasn't his real father. Oedipus was so confused so he asked the messenger how did he know this. The messenger tells him that he gave Oedipus as a child to Polybus. Chelated figured out that there was a survivor when Laius was killed. When the survivor came to Oedipus he has one man had killed Laius and his men at a three roads cross. He then tells Jocasta that he had killed a man long ago at the same place. He eventually put all the pieces together and figured out the person he was looking for was actually him. He had killed Laius , his father, and the prophecy was true. Oedipus stabbed his eyes out. Oedipus search for the murder wasn't successful because at the end he banish himself from the city. Oedipus thought it was just to banish himself from the city because he knew it was your only way to get rid of the plague. Oedipus is now blind and is now banish from the city because he knew it was the right thing to do. Oedipus way of seeing justice really rare because he treated himself just like everyone else ,and he knew the only way to protect his people was to leave Thebes forever. He faced his consequence just like anyone else

Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King, has risen many questions concerning the main character and whether or not he acts on free will or if his future is predestined by the gods. I am going to test the theory that although Oedipus believes he is acting on his own free will, he is in fact a victim of the gods. I will analyze several different sources that discuss fate and human agency in Oedipus the King and then proceed to build my original argument on the archaic debate.