The Role Of Free Will In Oedipus Rex

Often one wonders whether their choices are consequential. Are we destined to an irrevocable destination or do we choose the path for our life? Oedipus Rex is a play that deals with this question. As a Greek tragedy, sadness ultimately is its end. However, the conclusion can be seen as foreordained or a result of poor choices. Sophocles probes his audience to think about their own life through the story of an unfortunate man. Oedipus Rex is established upon the foundation of fate versus free will.

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

In Oedipus the King, one of Sophocles’ most popular plays, Sophocles clearly depicts the Greek’s popular belief that fate will control a man’s life despite of man’s free will. Man was free to choose and was ultimately held responsible for his own actions. Throughout Oedipus the King, the concept of fate and free will plays an integral part in Oedipus' destruction.

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 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.

Fate and free will have been debated by philosophers for centuries. Do humans really have free will or is our fate deided? Do we have a choice in our actions. These are hard questions to answer but Oedipus had no say in his fate. Oedipus’ fate was predecided by Apollo and his ancestor, Cadmus. Oedipus’ destiny was fully decided by the gods before he was born allowing him no way to change it.

Fate plays an essential role in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Not only does Oedipus commit parricide and incest, but he also ends up blinded and exiled. Due to his crucial decisions and actions throughout the play, Oedipus deserves his fate. By attempting to escape such a tragic fate, Oedipus ends up fulfilling it.

Over a longer period of time, people can start to depict whether it is in the characters fate or free will is going to get the best of that particular character. However, it seems like Oedipus has a choice whether we wants to stab his eyes out, or look at Simon, who did not have a choice when he ends up in the field staring at the Lord of the Flies. Both of these events are considered to end up being the downfall of both civilizations and leads to tragedy. To start things off, throughout the entire story of Oedipus it makes references that Oedipus can not see and struggles when the truth can appear right in front of his eyes. Oedipus does not realize that he is the killer of his own father and he tries to find the killer throughout the

In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, the protagonist named Oedipus falls to his ruin. Throughout the story, Oedipus struggles against the fate prophesied by the gods, his pride not allowing him to accept the horrible future of sin that was decided for him the moment he was born. In an attempt to avoid his inevitable future, Oedipus makes a series of unwise decisions, pushing himself further onto the path of misery and ultimately causing the pain he was trying to escape. In this way, Oedipus is also the antagonist of the story, constantly getting in the way of his own happiness in his search for the truth.

Ancient literature often features conflict between the free will of man and the inexorable decree of the gods, such as the infamous play Oedipus Rex written by Sophocles. When Apollo sent a plague to Thebes, King Oedipus guaranteed to reveal the murderer of King Laius, only to realize that Laius was his father. To make matters dramatically worse, Oedipus unknowingly married his own mother, Jocasta, shortly after he killed Laius in a fit of rage. While it could be argued that the prophecy was unyielding, it is important to note that Oedipus’s behavior is not completely benign. Oedipus brought about his own vile fate through his senseless rage and several errors.

The famed tragedian Sophocles is known for his unique ideas and intellect. Sophocles carefully utilizes of all of his intelligence and creative ability in order to make use of illuminating moments throughout the play which allow his audience to draw conclusions about free will, fate, knowledge, and power throughout perhaps his most iconic play, Oedipus Rex. the main character Oedipus experiences an illuminating moment when he gouges his eyes out at the discovery of the truth about his actions. This illumination is expressed in order to express Sophocles’ idea that fate overpowers free will.

“There is a disputation that will continue till mankind is raised from the dead, between the necessitarians and the partisans of free will.” This was the twelfth-century Persian poet and mystic Jalalu’ddin Rumi thoughts on free will. With these words Rumi describes the endless argument between people who believe in free will by actions and experiences versus those who are blindly devoted to their beliefs or point of views. We can see this controversy in many literature like in that of A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will by Robert Kane and Oedipus Tyrannus by Sophocles. Kane speaks directly on the matter of free while Sophocles has a more indirect approach. Sophocles characters are all different from each other. One of the greatest differences among them is their free will. In the prologue, Oedipus Rex is the character with the most free will according with Kane’s text.

Running away from your destiny will only lead to tragedy. What if you were destined to a life of sorrow? Would you run from it, or would you face your destiny? This story is based off a royal king destined for a life of tragedy. “Oedipus Rex”, by Sophocles, is a tragedy that discusses the downfall of a king. Oedipus was given a prophecy by a blind prophet that goes by the name Teiresias. The prophet informed Oedipus that he would kill his father and lie with his mother. Oedipus made the decision to run from his prophecy in anger and disbelief, which later only resulted in tragedy. Human will versus fate is the most important theme because Oedipus is given his prophecy but attempts to run from it, Oedipus attempts to blame Creon for Laius's murder, and Jocasta was told she would marry her son and her son would kill her husband.

Oedipus, the main character in Sophocles ' drama experiences loss of control over his fate in life. The gods of Athens predetermined Oedipus ' destiny. Born in the city of Thebes, Oedipus became a man distant from his birthplace only to return and face the unescapable. To discover his own identity, Oedipus had gone through running away to the place he called home, murdering his father, save the city of These by solving the riddle, and marrying his mother. Fate and freewill play a very important role in the rise and fall of the protagonist. “There was an oracle once that came to Laius…...it told him that it was fate that he should die a victim

In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, Oedipus attempts to escape the fate that seeks him. It seems as if the more he tries, the closer he gets to fulfilling his own fate. It is evident that Sophocles uses Oedipus’ hubris and arrogance as a way of foreshadowing what will happen to him at the end of the play. Throughout the play, Sophocles uses blindness and the inescapability of fate in order to create a play in which tragic irony triumphs.