Decay In Oedipus The King

Dodds begins the next paragraph mentioning Sir Maurice Bowra, an expert with different perspective of Sophocles Tyrannus that Dodds. Bowra has determinist views; he believes that the gods’ interference with Oedipus created a major impact in Oedipus’s life. He believes that the divine power determined Oedipus to find the truth about his wrongdoings. Dodds refutes this idea by stating his strong reason: “[W]hat fascinates us is the spectacle of a man freely choosing, from the highest motives, a series of actions which lead to his own ruin” (224). In other words, Dodds means that Oedipus mesmerizing performance in free will resulted in his own decay. Dodds gives examples from the play as supporting evidence. He shows the different scenarios from the play where Oedipus choose freely, he

Dodds mentions major events from the play where Oedipus chooses to keep looking for the truth, resulting in his ruin. One of the events that Dodds mentions is the first cause of the play, the plague. In this scenario Oedipus choose between leaving the ‘plague to take its course’ or to find the solution, which for the good of his Theban people chose to find the solution. Then he investigated the murder of King Laius resulting in devastating information, Oedipus destruction (224). And ultimately Dodds supports his views of Oedipus free will by stating, “The immediate cause of Oedipus’s ruin is not “Fate” of “the gods” – no oracle said that he must discover the truth – and still less does it lies in his own weakness: what causes his ruin is his own strength and courage, his loyalty to Thebes, and his loyalty to the truth. In all this we are to see him as a free agent” (224). What Dodds means is that Oedipus life troubles are not determined by a divine power, no statement confirmed that Oedipus was going to find out the mystery about his past. The devastating truth left Oedipus defenseless, provoking his ruin. According to Dodds, Oedipus’s character and loyalty caused his devastating