Oedipus the King: A Victim of Fate

Oedipus the King would not have been successful throughout centuries as a tragic play, if Oedipus were clearly responsible for his own tragedy. The play's ongoing success was do to Oedipus' innocence which immediately makes one think he can not be fully responsible and to blame. I do not believe Sophocles would have wrote the story, or I do not think people would have ever read it or studied it had it simply been a story of a criminal's retribution. Sophocles himself believed Oedipus to be the innocent victim of an ironic tragedy, and built the play around this belief. This story was destined to happen and I believe the author would agree. The story revolves around destiny, the resistance of people to it and the ultimate ending of destiny lasting over all their attempts to avoid it. Written in a time of religious unrest, there is a lesson to be learned from this tragic play; that no matter what we do as humans, it is the god's will which dominates over us.

Oedipus seems to be an example of the Athenian's ego at the time. Oedipus is portrayed as a king concerned with his people's welfare, who searches for truth, is intelligent and takes action quickly - all qualities which Athenians prided themselves on at the time the play was written. "An Athenian is always an innovator, quick to form a resolution and quick at carrying it out....Then again, Athenian daring will outrun it's own resources; they will take risks against their better judgement, and still, in the midst of danger, remain confident" (From History of the Peloponnesian War, p. 30). This is evident through many other characters in other stories. A typical Athenian stereotype is that of which resembles Agamemnon and his family. These stereotypes were that of people who ...

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...rible destiny. He can not be accountable since the prophecy was set before he was even born. When Sophocles wrote this play he was clearly trying to depict the idea that destiny is absolute and the attempt to change it or avoid it is futile. Destiny is in the hands of the gods not the humans. This is not easy for the Athenians and people like the Athenians because they are known to take action quickly. Oedipus tries to problem solve the situation and take the fate into his own hands; however, his attempts continue to push him into his fate. The power to avoid such a fate is out of human's hands and most certainly out of the Athenian's hands. In this case free will did not exist because the fate of these characters lay in the hands of the gods. Oedipus' innocence was proclaimed by his continuous attempts to change his fate, which after all could not be changed.