Responsibility is key to living a life that is one's own. In the play, "Oedipus Rex," by Sophocles, The tragic protagonist, Oedipus, was afflicted with a harsh sense of guilt once he learned that he has killed his father and married his mother. The play presents this appalling outcome through a prophecy that leads the audience to assume that Oedipus, like the rest of humanity, has little control over their destinies. People of the time when the play was first written, as well as many Christians today believe that God has a plan for everyone, but they are still responsible for the choices they make. In a life of uncertainty, people must try not to be afraid of what may lie ahead and press forward. Many tough decisions must be made that will develop aspects of their characters along these paths, which were separately designed for specific people. In this sense, life can be thought of as a maze. In Oedipus's case, he was given a hint about one of the paths within his maze.
Another thought that exemplifies the significance that free will holds, is seen in elements of Sophocles' classic, which revealed that Oedipus had more knowledge over the details of his dilemma than he let himself become conscious of. The last idea will reveal how the onset of fear will push people down a treacherous path of risk and pain, which is also seen in the play through multiple characters. Free will is an attribute that all people possess. It could work as a tool to get individuals through the scary twists their lives may entail. It could also work against them in many ways, which depends on the level of human weakness and ignorance. But, the most important assertion that can be made after considering the argument of, "fate vs. free will," is that...
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...e individual and lays out the structure of the life that this person was meant to wander. Similar to God, Apollo could only predict the different paths that Oedipus would take. The unchangeable factors of life have a large effect on how a person lives, but this does not mean that they are not the leaders of their own destinies. The knowledge of what was to come made Oedipus’s journey much more complicated, but it was his duty to deal with it in his own way, because this maze was his own to bid upon.
Works Cited
Sophocles, Frederic Will, and Bernard Knox. Oedipus the King. New York: Pocket, 2005. Print. Sophocles, Frederic Will, and Bernard Knox. "Critical Experts." Oedipus the King. New York: Pocket, 2005. Print.
Abcarian, Richard, Marvin Klotz, and Samuel Cohen. Literature: the Human Experience. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. Print.
Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Trans. Robert Fagles. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Maynard Mack et al. 6th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 1992.
Roberts, Edgar V., Jacobs, Henry E. “Literature.” The Lesson. 470-475. Toni Cade Bambara. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. 2001
“I will do all that I can…” proclaims Oedipus (43). People can control the direction of their lives. In life, decisions are made, advice is given, but ultimately the one dealing with the issues makes the decision. Oedipus was born with a fate, as described by the oracle. His family took precaution to avoid the fate. Inevitably, the fate was fulfilled, but he made his own decisions throughout his life, as well as having decisions made for him. In Oedipus the King, we are able to see that certain things in life can be controlled: family, personality, and success.
In Sophocles ' Oedipus the King, the themes of fate and free will are very strong throughout the play. Only one, however, brought about Oedipus ' downfall and death. Both points could be argued to great effect. In ancient Greece, fate was considered to be a rudimentary part of daily life. Every aspect of life depended and was based upon fate (Nagle 100). It is common belief to assume that mankind does indeed have free will and each individual can decide the outcome of his or her life. Fate and free will both decide the fate of Oedipus the King.
Oedipus’s tale of patricide and incest is fixed in the public consciousness, having been immortalized in the present era by Freud’s concept of the Oedipus Complex. Before Freud, however, much of the fame of Oedipus was due to a series of plays by the great Greek tragedian Sophocles. Instead of capturing the public’s attention with a salacious psychoanalytical concept, Sophocles enthralled theater audiences with the story of a man and his fight and ultimate failure to avoid fate. In Oedipus the King, according to Rudnytsky, the question of free will versus determinism plays a central role but is ultimately left up to the audience as the play shows both sides (108). Sophocles
His choices brought the prophecy to life. Only his decisions (not influenced by anybody) he made. Of course those decisions were in side of the limits set by fate. When Oedipus heard a prophesy that his going to kill his father and sleep with his mother he ran away, even when he new there were suspicions of him being the real son of his parents. There some lines from the play: "…There was a man dining with us one day who had too much wine and man shouted at me-half drunk and shouting that I was not rightly called my father's son. … Without my parent's knowledge, I went to Delphi, but Apollo did not say what I had gone to hear. Instead, he answered questions I had not asked and told of horror and misery beyond believe - how I would know my mothers bad … and cause the death of my own father."
Fitts, Dudley, and Robert Fitzerald. Sophocles: The Oedipus Cycle. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace & Com, 1977. Print.
The Greek tragedy Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, was written to show the common people of Greece how powerful the gods are and that your fate is pre-determined and nothing you do can change that. He does this by showing how people in this story try to escape their fate and how it is no use because in the end, what the oracles predict comes true. In the story there are many occasions in which people try to escape their fate.
Knox, B. M. W. (1998). Oedipus at Thebes: Sophocles tragic hero and his time. Retrieved from
Boston: Pearson, 2013. 1396-1506. Print. The. Sophocles. “Oedipus the King” Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing.
In the play Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, two themes appear; one that humans have little control of their lives because fate always catches up with them and the theme that when someone makes a mistake, they will have to pay for it.
Sophocles. "Oedipus the King." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. By Michael Meyer. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000. 1125-166. Print.
Fate and free will are two topics that are often questionable because they go hand in hand. Fate is a belief that a certain event is said to happen, then that person's choice and free will lead them to what has been predicted as inevitable. Knowing whether something is fate’s fault or the fault of the person who’s going to enact the said action, is one question that has never been fully answered. In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and Shakespeare's Macbeth, fate is determined by their own choices and free will, the character Macbeth knows of what lies ahead of him, making him alter the present to create his idealistic future, however instead he lives a life of ruins. As for Oedipus his entire actions are based on one prophecy he desperately attempts to avoid which later causes his unintentional demise. Oedipus by Sophocles and Macbeth by Shakespeare are both tragic plays that present a common fate, however, differ in action due to the amount of knowledge and ignorance.
Ehrenberg, Victor. "Fate and Sophoclean Rulers." In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, edited by Michael J. O'Brien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.
Abcarian, Richard, Marvin Klotz, and Samuel Cohen. Literature: the Human Experience. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. Print.