Fate Versus Free Will In Oedipus The King And Antigone

Fate versus free will is a common theme employed throughout the stories of Oedipus the King and Antigone. Both stories are written with that theme in mind and begin to illustrate a common question. Are Oedipus and Antigone to blame for their outcomes? In Antigone, Antigone directly chose to bury her brother, but outside influences may have also caused her outcome. Oedipus decided to seek the truth, but the gods may have also caused his outcome to arrive. Because of how complicated it is to say whether or not fate or free will is more responsible for their outcomes, many debates have sparked. However, due to the actions that Antigone and Oedipus took in their stories, it is more likely that they are responsible for their outcome rather than

Repeatedly, others gave him chances to ignore reality and instead stay blind. However, he valued fact over happiness and persisted. He would never have blinded himself or requested to be exiled if he had not discovered the truth. An example of Oedipus forcing the truth is on page 177 of Oedipus the King at Tiresias’ arrival. Tiresias immediately began by asking Oedipus to send him home and offered a chance for Oedipus to stay blind instead. Tiresias knew that if Oedipus found out the truth, he would no longer be allowed to be king according to the rules he declared at the beginning. However, Oedipus pressed on despite Tiresias’ refusal. Oedipus had a chance to avoid the outcome he experienced. However, instead, Oedipus decided he wanted to find the truth. Oedipus even got angry when Tiresias tried again to save Oedipus from the fact and forced the truth out. If he had never forced the truth out of Tiresias, Oedipus would have continued the search and focused elsewhere instead, sparing himself from his fate. Another example of Oedipus forcing the truth is when he insisted on sending the shepherd to the castle to discover who his true father is. Although he could have been satisfied with Jocasta’s answer that the prophecy was not true, he insisted. When he persisted, that was when he panicked and had a mental breakdown. Then, he blinded himself and demanded his fate. Because Oedipus insisted on seeing the

Creon did not want to rashly banish Oedipus from the land. He was going to await an answer from the god. However, Oedipus was not satisfied with that answer. Despite Creon’s desire to wait for a response, Oedipus felt convinced that he deserved banishment from the kingdom at once. Oedipus believed he deserved to suffer for everything he did and only sought to torture himself rather than appease the gods. Eventually, Creon agreed to exile him, only because of his insistence. If he did not persist, he would not have experienced his exile and had to leave his family. His outcome of suffering and torture was caused by him alone, not by anyone