Macbeth And Oedipus Comparison

In tragedies there are common themes that will happen no matter what one attempts to do to change their fate. These themes will take different forms in different tragedies but they will still follow a basic theme like how higher powers will influence the tragic hero. How do higher powers cause the downfall of a tragic figure as seen in Macbeth and Oedipus.

Macbeth is a hero who is manipulated by the gods and their servants and is met with a grizzly and horrible end. When Macbeth comes home from a huge battle he meets the three witches who tell him of how he will become a king(I.i.53;70-71). The witches lead Macbeth into the thought that he will become a king and set him down a path that there is no return from. The witches bewitch Macbeth’s

In Macbeth’s home he visualizes a dagger that he believes is leading him to Duncan’s room and is bekening Macbeth to kill him and to take the role of king and grab hold of the prophecy that has been laid out before him(II.i.33-66). Macbeth sees something that does not exist and yet he is entranced by it and is at its becandcall. He has been so wrapped up in these mear words that he is willing to kill the most beloved man in the kingdom to achieve his desires. In the dark cave the three witches are gathered around and are being yelled at by Hecate because she has been excluded from the affairs regarding Macbeth(III.v.2-35). The goddess of witchcraft wishes to be apart of the dealing with the tragic hero and is angry that these three have acted without her. Even a goddess wishes to make Macbeth into a symbol of resentment and ridicule and gives him false hope so that she can enjoy watching his downfall. The witches finish their spell and the three apparitions appear to tell Macbeth that he does not need to worry and that there is nothing that will be able to stop him but underneath this false vile of truth there lies a dark secret(IV.i.69-98). Macbeth is manipulated into the false sense of being

Oedipus is first give his fate by an orcul and he runs away from home to try to escape unknowing that the wheels of fate have already started to turn(Sophocles). Oedipus runs away from his home after the gods have given him their verdict on how his life will go. He is unwilling to blindly submit to these so called gods and runs away from his home not knowing that he has run right into the web of his prophecy. While Oedipus is travelling he encounters a group of me and after a squavel he kills them but does not know that in doing this he has taken the first step into a chasm of suffering(Sophocles). Oedipus ran away from what he believed to be his prophecy in hopes that he could escape it but has only come closer to it. When the gods have given a prophecy it is like they have given you a birthmark; no matter what you attempt to do at the end of the day it will still be there and will still be apart of you. Oedipus learns that there was once a time where the former king and Jocasta had a son that was given the same prophecy as the later and soon learns that they are one in the same(Sophocles). He learns that he was given his fate before he was even able to walk and that the gears of fate have never once stopped for him. Oedipus was discarded at birth in hopes that he would never be able to fulfill the fate that the gods have bestowed upon him but the gods words are not