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The Unavoidable Fate In Oedipus Rex By Sophocles

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Unavoidable Destiny
Fate is an unavoidable force that controls life. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles is a Greek tragedy about Oedipus finding the truth about his origin, while also trying to save the city of Thebes from a terrible plague. Oedipus unknowingly ends up killing his father and marrying his mother. When the truths about his sins are discovered, Oedipus blinds himself and exiles himself from Thebes. Oedipus ultimately could not control fate. Oedipus could not control the fate of citizens of Thebes as a king, he could not control his children's’ fate as a father, and he could not control his own fate as a strong individual.
Oedipus Rex was the great ruler of the Thebes, but he was witnessing his city in great pain. Oedipus’ “spirit …show more content…

When Oedipus’ true origins were revealed, Iocaste killed herself for the horrible sins that she had committed. After her death, Oedipus’ grief and rage caused him to blind himself with Iocaste’s brooches and exile himself from Thebes. He chooses to abandon his children, so that the plague on Thebes stops. When his daughters “come to marriageable age / Where is the man, my daughters, who would dare / Risk the bane that lies on all my children” (Sophocles 78)? Oedipus cannot alter his daughters’ fate, and due to his sins, they are destined to be alone in life. A parent wishes to see happiness brought upon their children, and will do everything in his power so that his children are prosperous. It pains a parent to see misfortune brought upon his child, especially so when it is their own fault. “What festivals can [my children] attend / Without being forced to depart again in tears” (Sophocles 78)? His sons’, just like his daughters, are also social outcasts, and Oedipus can only watch in pain as he has to leave them to their terrible fate. Oedipus, just like his own father, abandons his children, leaving them with a grim fate ahead of them. The fate of his children is left in the hands’ of Creon and he is “the only father my daughters have” (Sophocles 79). In the end, Oedipus feels that he was not the father of his children, and due to him being a son of Iocaste, that he was in fact their sibling. A parent does everything he can to make his

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