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Analysis of oedipus rex
Analysis of oedipus rex
Fate and choice in the oedipus the king
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Analysis of oedipus rex
Analysis of oedipus rex
Fate and choice in the oedipus the king
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The idea of fate or free will is something that is often linked to human nature and is reflected in many pieces of writing. They poke and prod the reader of these two beliefs, and allow them to determine the reasoning behind each character’s actions. Examples would include the play Macbeth, Oedipus and the film The Adjustment Bureau, as the main characters make decisions based with or against the newfound knowledge. Overall, it is considered that fate often dictates the influential choices, while free will consists of everyday life activities.
After Oedipus realizes that he fulfilled his fate of killing his father and marrying his mother, Oedipus declares,”I have been saved for something great and terrible, something strange. Well let destiny come and take me on its way”(323). Then Oedipus gouges out his own eyes so that he cannot look upon his parents in the underworld, his children, or the city he once ruled. He then asks Creon to return him to the place he should have died as a young child, the mountain. The statement reveals that Oedipus fulfilled his fate and that Oedipus truly believes destiny set him on the path of destruction.
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.
The oracles had prophesied that Oedipus would kill his father and beget children by his mother. Was the prophecy something that had no choice, but to become fulfilled? Anything in my opinion that an oracle or fortuneteller would tell you isn’t final and therefore has the ability to be changed or altered. I don’t believe that you don’t have the ability to change your own future. Oedipus in the play seemed to be ignorant and arrogant, which caused him to have this complex.
How does destiny operate in Oedipus the King? Written amidst Ancient Greece’s golden age, a period marked by intellectual ferment, Sophocles’ didactic play, ‘Oedipus the King,’ explores the philosophical discourse surrounding the interactions between fate and freewill. Through the narrative of the protagonist’s downfall, Sophocles advises that “pride breeds the tyrant” within a ruler, and that their hubris is their hamartia. He educates the Ephebes on the dangers of ignorance, suggesting that wisdom is required to navigate the metaphorical ship in the correct direction. However, it is ultimately divine intervention that acts as the puppet master restricting characters from their attempts to defy their fate and therefore is responsible for the tragic consequences that unravel.
Socrates’ trial was conducted by men, who are could have been persuaded to vote to save him, in the same way that they were persuaded to vote for his destruction. Yet Oedipus’ agent of calamity is his own destiny, an entity faceless and deaf, against which he has no defense or way to escape his fate. The evidence of the hand of destiny is found in the same passage that Oedipus’ tragic myopia is shown. Oedipus explains the steps he took to avoid fulfilling the prophecy after he fled from Corinth, “And as I journeyed I came to the place where, as you say, the king met with his death… I became angry and struck the coachman who was pushing me… And then I killed them all (109-110.)”
("Oedipus the King: Top Ten Quotes"). Did Oedipus create his own fate while trying to avoid his fate that was told to him by the Oracle? Or, did the gods will his fate? This is question has plagued the human race for years and we still haven’t come closer to an answer. In Oedipus Rex, it’s a little bit of both, Oedipus’s fate is already determined, however, he makes decisions that ultimately make his fate turn sour.
When the drunkard told Oedipus of the prophecy, he thought if he ran away from Korinth he could change his fate. If he left he’d have no way to kill his father, and how could he marry his mother if his father was alive and married to her? Fate was there to prove him it had other plans for his life. After the poisonous person of Thebes was discovered to be Oedipus his fate was laid out for him, he’d already killed his father, married his mother, and had children with her as well. Which would eventually cause his mother birth mother and now wife to kill
Oedipus Rex partially supports Tiresias’s assertion about the connection between destiny and responsibility which is evident through various decisions made by the characters in the
From the events in the play, freewill is the ability to make a choice. It refers to instances where a person acts through own intentions and thinking. On the other hand, destiny refers to pre-controlled events that happen where the actor or perpetrator does not have any control over their occurrence. In the play, King Oedipus actions are more of destiny than free will. Right at a young age, prophecies words, and prophecies made him understand his role, and know what would happen to him.
In many people’s eyes, it is seen that fate is something that one can not escape. In Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, Oedipus gives a speech to the citizens of Thebes, about the murder of their previous leader, Laius. And in this speech, he explains the hardship that the murderer will have to eventually face. In Oedipus’s speech from Oedipus Rex, Sophocles uses the literary device of dramatic irony to develop the central idea that fate is destined to happen, and can possibly bring more intensified consequences when avoided. If one tries to escape their fate, the conflicts that occur can be more severe than they were supposed to be. One can infer that what Oedipus is stating will eventually happen to him in the end of the play, if he is classified as the murderer.
This is a logical response to this sort of prophecy. Oedipus thought that he was using his free will to decide to flee so that his prophecy wouldn’t come true, however, he actually wasn’t. Given the information that he had, he believed that Polybus and Merope were his real parents. This led him to his decision to run away If he had known that they were not his real parents he might have chosen to stay with them and, therefore, not fulfil the prophecy. He would have never chosen to stay based on the information he had because he thought that Polybus and Merope were his real parents.
The idea of fate is a phenomenon that has been debated on for centuries for what the actual degree of validity may be. Some will argue there is no such thing and others will argue fate is the very thing they live by. It is important to note that in the play Oedipus the King, Sophocles uses the idea of fate to sway the readers ' feelings about Oedipus’ death one way or another. Oedipus makes crucial mistakes in that he commits crimes no person should even after warning from the gods, but also his combination of unethical actions in his kingdom ultimately insures his demise. For someone that made such a minimal effort to avoid this fate handed down by the gods, it is only fitting he suffered the fate he received.
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.
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.