Oedipus The King: The Lie That Is Free Will

Sophocles' Oedipus the King is a Greek tragedy. In the play, Oedipus and his parents try to avoid the prophecy that has been cast upon them. The prophecy stated that Oedipus would kill his father, Laius, and marry his mother, Jocasta. While trying to outwit the divine will of the gods, they ultimately play right into fate’s hands and the prophecy becomes true. Throughout the duration of the story, Sophocles uses dramatic techniques such as the blindness motif to get the lesson across to the audience. Through this motif, Sophocles suggests to not be blind to fate, because destiny can never be escaped.

Fate is defined as the development of events beyond a person’s control, regarded as being determined by a supernatural power. In Sophocles play ‘Oedipus the King”, fate has taken its toll on the main character Oedipus. Sophocles exposes how manipulative factors come into play that allow Oedipus to use his own judgements in attempt to escape his fate, that eventually fail. All knowledge that is gathered by Oedipus is futile, being that the prophecy was still meant to happen beyond the control of Oedipus. While Oedipus is not restricted by his fate, he is restricted by what he understands about his fate.

The Story of Oedipus is a tragic narrative of the life of a king whose life gets turned upside down when a hidden truth guarded by a prophecy comes out. I believe that it is not Oedipus Rex who is at fault in the story. I feel that destiny had pushed them to the ends that they all met. Throughout the play there were instances where I could see that fault could have fallen on the shoulders of Oedipus but to many times the incidences occurred that skewed my vision of what seemed to be accidental turned into destiny. Oedipus had pride above any man because he was praised for defeating the sphinx and an outstanding King of Thebes, for this allowed fate take over and destiny to preside him in his fate.

Response to Literature: Oedipus the King Fate: be destined to happen, turn out, or act in a particular way. In the play, Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, the main character Oedipus is a victim of fate. Whether he tried to change what was supposed to happen or not, it still happened. When Oedipus was first born, the oracle put on his life damned him from the beginning.

People, historically, have thought that fate and free will are intertwined and play equally important roles in one’s life, but this does not apply to ancient Greek thought. For instance, Sophocles, a Greek tragedy playwright, and the Greeks at his time believed that a person’s destiny was foreordained before birth, decided by the triple goddesses called the Fates, or Moirai. In Sophocles’ play, Oedipus Rex, the topic of fate is treated thoroughly among its characters, specifically as related to the protagonist, Oedipus. Oedipus, when attempting to solve the mystery of King Laius’ death in order to resolve the plague of Thebes, found out the truth about his own fate, which was to commit patricide and fall into an incestuous relationship with

In our world today, fate and free will remains the biggest mystery of all; is everything we do controlled or do we have the freedom of choice? In the story "Oedipus the King" by Sophocles, the author uses the idea of fate and free will to explain the struggle of Oedipus's life. Fate and free will is explained as; fate is controlled by an outside supernatural force, and there is no way of controlling it. Free will is when each of us is responsible and controls all aspects of our own life. The author of "Oedipus the King" uses ironic devices to convey a tragic attitude toward the struggle of fate and free will.

Macbeth and Oedipus the King, are well known play. The plays are from different time period yet they both have similar plots that center on a concept of characters fates are inescapable. Both characters fore¬seen directly and indirectly their destiny and unavoidably comes true. In Macbeth, the three witches tell Macbeth that he would become king and it becomes a reality in his mind and follows that goal until it was accomplish. Likewise, in Oedipus the King, Oedipus finds his fate that he would one day kill his own biological father and marry his own birth mother; he tries to escape his destiny yet he was unable to. At the end, Oedipus says “I am agony…My Destiny, my dark power, what a leap you made” (Sophocles, pg. 238). Nevertheless, these two literatures presents two characters who have a predestine future, which they accomplish.

Fate; something that unavoidably befalls upon a person, fate is influenced by one’s own actions, but is ultimately dictated by events beyond human control. In this play Sophocles demonstrates the power of fate through certain situations that occur throughout the play which are uncontrollable. The gods preordained Oedipus’ future, with all its intricacies and landmarks which lead Oedipus on his quest to find his identity and the truth. However, the path Oedipus “chooses” is simply a reaction to the predetermination of his life. Ultimately fate, through Oedipus’ own “choices” is his opponent throughout the play.

Determinism is based off this notion that all events are pre-determined, without influence by human actions. If this is true, we can imply that people do not have free will and thus are not responsible for their actions. In Oedipus the King we see that the dichotomy of fate and free will is hazed by the hyperbole of events, which can make it difficult, but possible, to determine if humans even have free will. Through Oedipus’s flaws and decisions and Sophocles use of the imagery of a crossroad it is apparent that free will can be exercised in a meaningful way.

Throughout the vast history of literature, various concepts have come and gone. The idea of fate or fatalism has been a concept that has survived the test of time. Numerous characters have succumbed to the power of fate and the character of Oedipus from Sophocles’ Oedipus the King is a prime example of the vast power of fate within literature. Sophocles effectively depicts the wrath of fate as he portrays how Oedipus fell victim to fate and his efforts to disregard fate were futile. Once again fate manages to triumph and displays no character whether king or slave can avoid its gaze.

Oedipus The King explores themes of wisdom, power and most of all, fate. In Oedipus, fate is a concept which is so strong that it must be caused by a higher source of power. It is so effectual that it can bring the downfall of a man. Tiresias informs Oedipus of what fate has in store for him which cannot be prevented. “Of themselves things will come, although I hide them and breathe no word of them… I will say nothing further.

Oedipus the King by Sophocles is the story of a man who was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. The story continues in the tradition of classic Greek plays, which were based upon the Greeks’ beliefs at the time. The ancient Greeks believed that their gods decided what would ultimately happen to each and every person. Since those gods destined Oedipus to kill his father and marry his mother, Oedipus’ life was definitely fated. However, the gods only decided where Oedipus’ life would eventually lead; they never planned the route he would take to get there. All the decisions that Oedipus made in order to fulfill his destiny, and the decisions he made after the fact, were of his own free will,

The battle between whether people follow fate or have free will has been a difficult argument to find an answer to. “Do I have free will or is everything fate?” It has been argued that everyone 's life has a plan and is determined by fate. Others also believe that people create their own destiny with free will. Therefore, people come up with many justifications for why events happen in their lives to determine free will or fate. For example, many individuals people that finding their soulmate is fate. They believe that no matter what you may do, the person that one is supposed to be with will come into their life. Others feel that there is no such things as a soulmate. Many people believe that a person ends up with whomever they work to be in a relationship. On the other hand, what if the person that someone is working to be with is actually the person that fate puts them with. In the tragedy, Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Oedipus’ fate starts with a prophecy. No matter how much Oedipus tries to do the “right” thing, the prophecy comes to term. It is argument-able that Oedipus was led to his tragic ending by fate. It is also possible that his tragic ending was brought open by his own actions. The idea of fate and free will both played an important role in Oedipus’ downfall. Even though he was a victim of fate. It did not control him. Oedipus was destined to kill his father and murder his mother from the day he was born. No matter what he’d done, he could not stop this

In Oedipus the King, the theme of fate vs free will appears all through the play. Oedipus throughout the play tries to avoid his inevitable fate, which ironically seems to make his fate come

In The Oedipus Cycle, fate plays a large role in each character 's destiny. Oedipus is told at a young age that he is doomed to murder his father when he is older. Antigone, trying to give a proper burial to her brother kills herself once she is caught. The main characters in Oedipus Rex and Antigone are doomed to face their bleak future because it is in their fate to do so. They are both destined for a tragic end. Although the audience is aware of Oedipus’ future, his tragic flaw is not outwardly known. The idea of fate and prophecy serves to shed light onto the flaws of each character that ultimately lead to their downfall. In both plays, fate functions as a divulgence into the future that the character 's are better off not knowing. Each character 's knowledge of their fate causes him to act out erratically, and eventually lead to his downfall.