The Theme Of Fate And Fate In Oedipus Rex And The Kite Runner

In the Greek tragedy, Oedipus the King, the irony of fate brings the downfall of Oedipus. Fate, in this story affects three specific characters. The gods have already decreed Oedipus and Jocasta’s fate even before they know it. Their fate was in fact decreed the day they were born, and trying to avoid seems to have been pointless.

Everything in life happen for a reason and there is nothing that can change the past. Events that have happened in the past tend to influence the future. In The Kite Runner hassan gets rapped as a young child when his best friend could have helped prevented it, but then his best friend Amir feels guilty and tries to make it up to him. In Oedipus Rex Oedipus is told he will murder his father and marry his mother and does this without knowing and he tries to prevent this but cannot. Both The Kite Runner and Oedipus Rex display the theme of fate throughout both stories while using it in different ways and the significance of the theme in both stories is different too.

For many years people have relied on fate to take them on a journey to a specific outcome. Although at times fate can have a mind of its own and creates a path to someone’s own demise. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles both portray fate as a significant theme in their literary works. The theme is used in both works to drive the plots and create a twist towards the resolution of the works. The way both authors implemented fate through their literary works is by establishing a major event that determines an outcome, making their characters realize their wrong decisions and using free will to set things right, and developed a final reaction of how fate affected the characters lives.

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 Rex and The Kite Runner are both profound works of literature that share two immensely universal themes, those themes being fate and freewill and divine justice. These two themes are quite prominent throughout both pieces of writing and serve to facilitate a very human connection between the audience and the story. Although both of these stories consist of the two themes mentioned, they each express them in a unique fashion. Oedipus Rex focuses more so on the concept of fate whereas The Kite Runner emphasizes the concept of freewill. This contrast of theme utilization is also present regarding the theme of divine justice and is intrinsic to the theme of fate and freewill. Oedipus is served divine justice through the cruel process

With support on both sides, the concept of free will versus a predetermined fate is a debate that began centuries ago. This issue is also prevalent within both The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. The main characters in the books, Amir, and Oedipus, have trouble accepting the truth and possess the tendency to run from reality. Both characters also have to deal with the burden of guilt and the consequences of their actions. Although the authors integrate common themes within their works, their angles differ. Oedipus Rex includes a more literal sense of fate, with a prophecy; however, The Kite Runner includes a more abstract version of the meaning of fate. In Hosseini’s and Sophocles’ books, the plot is driven by the character’s sins, and how they deal with the consequences of their wrongdoings, ultimately, fate decided their destiny. Both works have the common themes of the inevitability of fate and the consequences of sin.

A common struggle man faces is the question of who or what has power and control over his life. Does he have total control of his future, or is there a higher being at work that takes human lives into their own hands? Sophocles, in his work Oedipus Rex, establishes a view that gives fate, which is created by the gods, a seemingly inescapable characteristic over man. The role of fate is clearly defined, through the fulfillment of divine prophecy, and Oedipus’ inability to recognize prophecy as a realistic source of knowledge, as a fate that strikes a delicate balance with the free will of man.

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

Both The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles tell an intriguing story about two troublesome families, and their fight to help get through the rough times. In both the story and the play, there is a problem that takes not just one person, but many people to solve. In The Kite Runner, it takes Amir, and many other people to free Amir of his guilt. Not so much in the beginning, but torwards the end. In Oedipus Rex, it takes mostly the whole town to figure out why the town has a “curse” on it. These two stories share two common themes, which is the build up of the main plot of the story. The two major themes that run through both The Kite Runner and Oedipus Rex is family troubles and violence.

While reading both the play Oedipus Rex, and the book The Kite Runner. I have found a great variety of themes that they both share. I have also found many that they have that are different from each other. Both the book, and the play have a similar plot twist lay out that circles around the two major themes I found. Out of all the themes I have found and analyzed between both the literary works. They both share two of the same major themes that shape the main events leading up to the plot twist, the climax. These themes are father to son relationship, and the need for redemption.

Literature has a funny way of connecting even when two different novels are from two very different time periods. The time period does not contradict relations, especially in this case. One may read a book and never think about how much in common they really have; when in fact the similarities are endless. The Kite runner and Oedipus Rex share a similar theme of redemption, through the main characters in both books who believe that the best way to redeem themselves is through pain.

Have you ever felt guilty or betrayed? In the books Oedipus Rex and The Kite Runner there are many examples of these themes. For example in The Kite Runner Amir betrayed Hassan. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus betrays the city. The significance of betrayal and guilt in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner is doing the right thing. Betrayal and guilt is portrayed in Oedipus Rex is a little different. It is also doing the right thing, but with some sort of punishment. Both authors treat the theme, guilt and betrayal, with the same amount of importance.

Regarding the theme of fate, the authors of both Oedipus Rex and The Kite Runner discern fate as cruel. In Oedipus Rex, the irony of fate becomes the downfall of the tragic hero Oedipus as he tries to do everything to change his fate despite the warning by the Oracle, Teiresias that regardless of what Oedipus does or says the will of the gods cannot be changed stating “It will end the same, though I hide it in silence,” (Sophocles 22). In the end of the story, Oedipus learns that because of his parents' actions in ordering him killed as an infant and his incorrect belief

To lack moral corruption and abstaining from sin would keep one pure; although, in Oedipus Rex and The Kite Runner, the protagonists lose their claim for innocence. The loss of innocence is a major theme within both literary works. The points in which the characters lose their innocence and the ways the authors utilize the theme progresses the plot. Both pieces of literature, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, portray the common theme that is the loss of innocence, which is exemplified by the authors through the decisions the protagonists make utilizing free will, the emotional hardships that ensue when truth comes to light and how in the end, each protagonist falls in line with fate.

the famous tale that not only emphasizes the tragic irony within it, but sheds light on the capacity of human insight and intellect as well. Part of the irony lies in the idea that in attempting to escape his fate, Oedipus runs right to it. Additionally, Sophocles prompts the reader to contemplate how much of their life is controlled by free will versus destiny. Oedipus experiences this conflict and ultimately discovers his is determined by the latter. Before he comes to this conclusion, he lives in ignorant bliss, and this theme of blindness is underlined by the recurring motif of his prophecy.