Fate plays an important role in both Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, and Beowulf translated by Burton Raffel, but each of the main characters’ fates leads them in very different directions.
The major difference between the stories Oedipus Rex and Beowulf is that Oedipus runs away and tries to avoid his prophecy, but Beowulf embraces his fate. Oedipus’s fate was that he would kill his father and marry his mother shown by the quote, “Loxias once told me that I must sleep with my own mother and shed paternal blood with my own hands,” (1023 Oedipus). He avoided his prophecy by fleeing from Corinth and living in Thebes, rather than embracing it like Beowulf did. Beowulf’s fate was that he would win battles with Grendel and Grendel’s mom, but lose against the dragon. Another difference is that Beowulf’s fate is discussed frequently and in a spur of the moment manner seen in the quotes, “God must decide who will be given death’s cold grip,” (175 Beowulf), and, “stand still fate decides which of us wins,” (676 Beowulf), whereas
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Both Oedipus’s fate and Beowulf’s fate leave them gravely injured at the end of the story. Oedipus’s fate causes him to gouge out his eyes, as described by the quote, “he lifted them and struck the sockets of his own eyes,” (1297 Oedipus). Beowulf’s fate causes him to die under the dragon mentioned in the quote, “together they killed the dragon, but the old king was fatally wounded,” (italics pg 45 Beowulf). Their fates also share another similarity since they affect other people’s lives. Oedipus’s fate causes Jocasta to kill herself and Laius to get murdered proved by the quote, “we saw the woman hanging, all twisted up in a noose,” (1293 Oedipus). Beowulf’s fate causes some of his men to get killed in battle and he leaves his land ungoverned and susceptible to attack demonstrated by the quote, “Grendel snatched at the first Geat, ripped him apart, and cut his body to bits,”(421