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Harmony In Oedipus The King

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Harmony in Oedipus the King In Oedipus the King, penned by Sophocles, an underlying theme throughout the tragedy is that a person 's fate and a person 's free will both influence his or her life. The article “fate” recorded in Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature claims that Oedipus ' “...Foreknowledge…” in the play, “...makes him act irrationally to fulfill his destiny” (Langis n.pag.). When Oedipus tries to escape his fate by departing from Corinth, he runs toward it instead. Oedipus’ predetermined course would become legitimate and neither he nor any other individual could change it. Furthermore, to reinforce that one 's choice and predestination act together, in the play, Oedipus, who is grief stricken after discovering that he had
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One of the many philosophies examined in both Sophocles, Oedipus the King and William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar is fate versus free will. In both dramatic plays, the idea that fate and free can work side by side is supported. Shakespeare and Sophocles allow the theme of fate and free will to wind its way into the downfall of major characters in world literature. In Oedipus and Julius Caesar there are different interpretations of the concept of fate and freewill. Each has different fates and limits of free will that contributes to their death.

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Oedipus Rex Essay “Destiny guides us towards a specific, but without our willful participation we will not achieve our destiny” quoted Lee Bladon. Destiny or fate seems too often misused as a vague scapegoat. An unforeseen dramatic irony of sorts. Thanks to the Greek stories and plays of the classical age, fate is thought to be linked to the tragic outcome of an individual's life. In addition to the concept of fate and destiny included in The Oedipus Plays, high mindedness was not a tragedy gifted to Oedipus regardless of whether fate had any involvement.

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A main theme throughout The Odyssey is the idea of fate vs. free will, which is also largely consistent throughout Oedipus Rex. However, instead of exclusively exploring the involvement of both fate and free will in the human condition, Sophocles analyzes the limits of human free will and the consequences of ignoring or attempting to avoid fate. Throughout the play, we see both Oedipus and his parents constantly running from their fate. They make almost every possible move to avoid their inevitable fate. Through this presentation of free will, Sophocles suggests that although humans have the independence to make their own choices, these choices will ultimately result in whatever condition they were predestined to encounter.

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This drives him to become a blind beggar when his wife/mother commits suicide. Throughout the play, one can see that Oedipus’s fate was determined by forces outside his control, as seen by his lack of agency over the events leading to his eventual fate. The intractable gods’ manipulation in Oedipus’s fate is clearly shown by the various prophecies delivered by various oracles and prophets in the play. The first word of god in Oedipus the King commands the citizens of the plague-infested city to “drive out, and not to leave uncured within this country, a pollution we have nourished in our land” (96-98).

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Sophocles suggests that characters are not fully responsible for their actions by elevating the importance of fate. The themes in Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus are also free will

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In Sophocles' Oedipus the King, the themes of fate and agency are very strong throughout the play.  Both sides of the argument can be greatly supported.   The attributes of a person have either a positive or negative affect on the choices that they make.   For Oedipus, his main attribute was the desire for knowledge and understanding about his own life. Because of this strong will and desire, this was Oedipus’ driving force in the play to lead him to the truth of his beginnings.

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Fate versus Free Will Throughout both Sophocles “Antigone” and William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” fate and free will play a major role in Romeo and Antigone’s lives, but ultimately fate can take the blame for causing the chain of events in the novels. Romeo makes rash decisions and choices which determines his fate for him. The same can be said about Antigone, they both use free will which in the end determines each of their fates.

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Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, is really a story about the necessity of placing more faith in others and their counsel than in oneself and one’s own beliefs. Repeatedly the titular character is pleaded with to listen to and accept the advice of those around him and each time he refuses to obey. Ultimately, Oedipus’ tendency to do perform the actions he would prefer to do rather than to allow his family to help guide him leads to his downfall and loss of the throne. A common characteristic of Greek tragedy is the “fatal flaw” of the main character and how this flaw leads to the character’s misfortune.

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If Oedipus had never left Corinth he would have never ran into his father, King Laius, on the road to Thebes. If he wouldn't have met him then the chances of him killing the king would become far less and not murdering the king, he would have never had the opportunity to marry his mother, Jocasta. So you see things would have been a lot different if he did not try to control his future and go against the gods and his prophecy. Oedipus didn’t want to believe in his own destiny and fell into denial and eventually couldn’t bring himself to reality that he might have been the one who killed Laius. Prides known as one of the major seven sins within men and within a tragic hero Oedipus.

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Truly, Oedipus sets out to change his destiny. His self determination proves he has pride in himself and confidence that he can somehow change the future. When Oedipus killed his father he allowed his pride and arrogance to control him. He was thinking with his pride and did not use self control. This hubris that is instilled in Oedipus is a serious flaw of his.

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In Sophocles’s play Oedipus the King, he employs crossroad motifs in order to prove the unavoidable nature of the Gods’ will. This inevitability regarding the Gods’ will is demonstrated when the anti-prophecy Jocasta speaks with Oedipus about a prophecy that never came true, she informs, “Laius was fated to die by the hand of his son (...) Well, Laius, so the story goes, was killed by foreign robbers at a place where three highways meet” (41). Jocasta uses the word “fated” which insinuates the absence of choice and a predetermined existence. When using the word “fate” in reference to a prophecy of the Gods Jocasta implies that the words of the Gods are predetermined and unavoidable.

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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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The plot is thoroughly integrated with the characterization of Oedipus, for it is he who impels the action forward in his concern for Thebes, his personal rashness, and his ignorance of his past. His flaws are a hot temper and impulsiveness, but without those traits his heroic course of self-discovery would never occur. Fate for Sophocles is not something essentially external to human beings but

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Since the earliest of times, there has always been debate over the concepts of fate and free will. The most frequent dispute is whether or not man truly has free will, or if fate is the ultimate determinant of how one's life will turn out. One play that depicts this concept is Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. In this tragedy, Oedipus receives a prophecy that he would bed his mother and murder his father. After learning of this prophecy, Oedipus attempts to undo fate and utilize his free will to escape what would be his destiny.

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