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Examples Of Fate In Oedipus The King

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Recommended: Critically discuss the role of fate in sophocles play oedipus rex

Fate is often said to be inevitable, have an adverse outcome, or end and free will is the ability to choose at your own discretion. In our everyday life, we make decisions and are often told that life is about making choices. It is because we have free will that we make choices which may lead to positive consequences if the choice is rational and yet other times our decisions lead to negative consequences. Free will plays an important role in Oedipus the King and fate appears in the play but it does not dominate it. It is free will that gives humans the ability to make choices that affect their destiny, human beings have free will and do make choices all the time. Free will is distributed throughout the entire story of Oedipus the King. …show more content…

Eventually, he comes to a crossroads and comes across the King of Thebes and his horsemen who travel with him. The roads must have been to narrow as Oedipus is almost bumped by the kings’ men. His temper flares and he kills the group of men because of this incident on the road and amongst the dead is his real father, King Laios, of Thebes. Perhaps if Oedipus had not lost his temper he would not have killed the group of men at the crossroads. Does fate or free will cause someone’s temper to flare? Tempers flare because we allow it to happen and it is something we should be able to control. We can choose to get angry or choose not to get angry. Oedipus is arrogant, boastful and blames the groom leading the horses because he forced him off the road. Road rage in modern times is equivalent to this act of violence upon another human. Oedipus is determined to find out who killed the King of Thebes and he announces to the people of Thebes that he will kill the man or men that killed their king. He goes on to say that Thebes suffers due to the murder of King Laios, and he must put an end to it. “Then once more I must bring what is dark to light” (Sophocles 1071). The gods and goddesses demand justice and he must find the man that killed the king, his father, Laios. What causes Oedipus to be so determined to find the man or men who killed the King of

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Free-will is the natural instinct to do as you feel. Fate is the journey that is planned out for you and the rest of your life. Oedipus Rex and Revenge of the Sith, show recognition to the debate on fate vs free-will. ‘Who followed their fate?”, “Did Oedipus and Anakin follow their imaginations instead of their realities?” The impact of these stories show that fate is a stronger force than free-will.

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When it came to Oedipus finding the person who committed an injustice by killing the king before himself, he had so much anger, and he wanted to find the culprit as soon as possible. In his rage and anger, he put a curse upon the murderer. His response to injustice was anger as well as revenge. Although he meant to help the city of Thebes by putting the curse on the murderer, his response could have been a calmer one. Oedipus does not handle injustice well because he wants to prove to the people of Thebes that he is a good ruler, so when there is an injustice he tries to get rid of it right away by doing anything he must, even if it is not the proper or most reasonable thing to do.

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Although he was ashamed of the life he had been living, he realized that the mistakes were his own, and no one can bear the weight but him. He even said it himself “No one but me can bear this weight.” The grave consequences which Oedipus suffered in the end consisted of the loss of his mother/ wife by suicide, as well as his grief becoming a threat to himself, as he stabbed his own eyes out, blinding him permanently. After suffering dreadful pain from these actions in grief, Oedipus went on to face the other consequences given by the gods and Creon. He cursed himself many times in the book saying that whoever killed Laius should be banished or killed, and he would even go on to be cursed by his wrongful actions of incest.

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Fate and free will co-exist with each other in life and in the story. Oedipus clearly had the conversation of his fate and his destiny. The oracle told him that he was going to kill his father and bed his mother. But he thought that his father was Phoebus, and in order for him to “run away” from this prophecy, he CHOSE to run away instead of accepting his fate.

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  His agency is based on his drive for knowledge.   Throughout the play, Oedipus pushes many people for information regarding his beginnings. Each one of those characters in some way or form denied giving him a clear answer. As he draws close to an answer, another character tries to stop his journey.  Oedipus continues to keep moving forward even though others tried to get him to stop.

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1001 Words | 5 Pages

Oedipus was given this prophecy because the fates knew he would act irresponsibly and

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Are we really responsible for our own destiny and actions; this is a question that humanity has wondered for centuries over time. The ability to choose, think, and act voluntarily. For many philosophers, to believe in free will is to believe that human beings can be the authors of their own actions but rejecting what is inevitably predetermined; destiny. (Dictionary) Most people have deliberated the impact of godlike or power, environment, or even heredities, as being influential how free any individual is in making ethical choices.

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Oedipus was a very prideful man that was sure of his past and of himself as a man, husband, father and a King. He looked after his country and over his people and made all attempts to take care of everyone in Thebes. Oedipus was the people's protector and wanted to rid Thebes of the plaque and vowed to find and deal with the murderer of Laios. Oedipus never hinter or acknowledged that he had a past where he murdered a man and seems to have put that out of his mind. Oedipus becomes more arrogant and becomes very defiant when Kreon, Teiresias and the Messanger try to talk to him about the prophecy and the oracle when attempting to find out the true murderer of King Laios.

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It is a psychological feeling described as “ an emotion characterized by antagonism toward someone or something you feel has deliberately done you wrong.” (“Anger and Aggression”). There are different types, but they are caused by a triggering situation and, they all have different causes and ways to calm yourself down. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus himself shows signs of, self inflicted anger, volatile anger and chronic anger. Anger in itself is a simple emotion, one

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First, he was blind to the truth about his own life. Oedipus had no idea that his real parents were Laius and Jocasta, he was so blind that he got mad at anyone that would even suggest an idea such as that. As the story went on though, Oedipus could no longer run from the truth; he was forced to open his eyes to the reality and truth of his life. Oedipus killed his father and married his mother; he is the brother to his own kids and the son of his own mother. Oedipus was the one that was causing all of the downfall and bad times in Thebes.

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Oedipus traveled to the place where three roads meet, which is similar to the three roads of id, ego, and superego. A company of strangers come and, in self-defense, Oedipus kills the men (except for the one that ran) thus inadvertently killing his father. In murder, Oedipus took the path of the id, the one that strives for the unacceptable desires. “I killed them all,” Oedipus admits, “in my rage” Oedipus attacked, and was attacked, and he “paid back, and more” (Sophocles 1250). He gave into rage when the charioteer came towards him.

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Fate refers to an incidence in Oedipus The King story that uncontrollably occurs a person. The Oracle at Delphi showed Oedipus the king prior to his birth; the prophecy came true that he killed his father on the crossroad on the way to Thebes even when Oedipus didn’t know he was his father. Also, Oedipus married his mother. Oedipus learned about the prophecy within himself but lands on fate because of his self-importance which he tried to makes a quest about his father’s death. Oedipus tried to avoid the prophecy and survives to fulfill the prophecy.

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1085 Words | 5 Pages

Killing Laius and his men is an overreaction to his anger. This violent outburst shows that he has no self control and he does not show any remorse for what he has done. He also looses his temper with Tiresias when he is trying to explain the oracle to him. It is because of his anger that the oracle becomes true and in the end he looses everything good around him including his children and his sight. Oedipus constantly pushes people away that are only trying to help him, as if accepting help makes him seem

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1233 Words | 5 Pages

And fate controlled his actions. And the way he behaves that is because he is cursed. His knowing of the curse leads him to run and escape from it in hope to defeat it. Because going through the text we could notice that one on the main themes is blindness. Blindness is mentioned as a sign for the curse, and it might lead to his irrationality, when Tiresias said to Oedipus “you are blind to the corruption of your life” .

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1224 Words | 5 Pages

The destiny that Oedipus was attempting to avoid, was the destiny that he was also fulfilling. Fate is defined as a destined outcome; nothing can alter that no matter what is tried. Anyway, it was too late for Oedipus to do anything about it, for the many factors that contributed to his death were irreversible and dormant until the very ironically tragic end. Oedipus tried to master fate and it ultimately mastered him.

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