Oedipus is a man of noble blood; his parents, who raised him as a child, were King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth. Oedipus also becomes a king himself when he solves the Sphinx’s riddle, thus saving Thebes and taking over the throne of the late King Laius. Oedipus then marries Jocasta, Laius’s widow, and they have children together. Though he is a very fair and understanding husband, Oedipus’s main concern is always the city of Thebes. When a plague strikes the city, Oedipus refused sleep until he finds the cause, and he, “…sent Creon,…To Delphi, Apollo’s place of revelation, To learn there, if he can, What act or pledge of mine may save the city” (Sophocles 1257). Oedipus then vows to find who killed King Laius after Creon reveals that Laius’s death must be avenged so that the plague will be dispersed.
The question has been raised as to whether Oedipus was a victim of fate or of his own actions. This essay will show that Oedipus was a victim of fate, but he was no puppet because he freely and actively sought his doom, although he was warned many times of the inevitable repercussions of his actions.
Before Oedipus was born a profit to his dad the Kings that he would be killed by his own son and the son would marry it mother. The king ordered the baby to have stack drove into its feet then thrown in to the sea. The man who was supposed to do it didn’t. In stand he took baby Oedipus to the maintains in left him. Oedipus was fond and given to a different king in Queen to raise. When he was a young man he told the king in queen were not he real parent and went to find the truth from another profit. Oedipus was not told whether the king and queen were his real parent but only that he would kill his dad and marry his mother. He ran away from home to the city Thebes. On the way he kills a man and his group of workers. He then wins a battle of wits against the sphinx. The city of Thebes name him the new king he marry the queen Jocasta and has four kids. Thebes fall into a pelage in to fix it Oedipus go to the seer for help. The seer tells him he killed the old king. From that point he finds out the king was he father and that he had married his mother and had kid with her. Jocasta kills herself, Oedipus guts out his own eyes and leave the city. In the case of Oedipus, he and everyone around him goes to every extreme to make sure the prophecy won’t come true but it does anyways. This just show that no matter how much he tried his free will and decision could not undo
Fate is the belief that a person's life is being controlled by destiny while free will is the belief that a person's life is being controlled by themselves where they choose how to live their life and without an external force. Although this topic has divided people for many centuries, many famous poets and authors have used this to their advantage. One example of fate versus free will is Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. Oedipus Rex should be considered to be categorized as a free will drama because of several events that happen that shows Oedipus free will, such as the example of the messenger telling Jocasta the good news, 2“MESSENGER: The people of Isthmus will choose Oedipus to be their king. That is the rumor there.” (1061-1062) The Messenger
Oedipus the King is a great epic, written by Sophocles that discusses Oedipus’ journey to find his own identity. Most importantly, this epic challenges even the noblest of human beings by portraying a theme between personal convictions versus the force of fate. Throughout his journey, Oedipus encounters these challenges through several oracles, in which he has a difficult time interpreting and accepting. Nevertheless, King Oedipus, being a man with great curiosity and determination, seeks for these answers and makes an attempt to alter his own fate. Consequently, Oedipus fails, and is met with the horrific events that he was so determined to escape from.
Oedipus did not have a fair start in life. His father, Laius, heard prophecy that Oedipus would one day kill his father and sleep with his mother. In order to prevent this, Laius gave Oedipus to a shepherd to be killed. Fortunately, through a string of events, Oedipus's life was saved, and he even went on to become the honored king of Thebes. Despite this feat, Oedipus still managed to make several decisions that ultimately fulfilled the original prophecy told to Laius, and inevitably sealed Oedipus?s fate.
Born into a royal family, Oedipus was one of the bearers of a disastrous generational curse. He had no idea what he was born into, or what he would become. Poor Oedipus was put into to the world to serve as an example from the gods. Although Oedipus was said to be a victim of fate, he contributed to his own fate more than the gods. He was placed into the world to with a prophecy that he will kill his father and married his mother and conceive children with her, but that was just a prophecy not his destiny. Oedipus could have determined a new destiny for himself, but instead he did more things to make the prophecy true rather than false. The life of Oedipus was a great tragedy, not only for him but for his entire family. Although the gods may have set a prophecy for Oedipus future, Oedipus contribute mostly to his destiny.
Oedipus was unknowingly set down the path towards impending doom by the Gods at an early young age, and perhaps one could venture as far as to say that his destiny was written before he was born into this world. He was sent away from Thebes by King Laius and Queen Jocasta - his true parents - and was raised by the king and queen of Corinth. The truth of this arrangement was concealed from Oedipus. He was then later told by a prophet that he was destined to “mate with [his] own mother, and shed with [his] own hands the blood of [his] own [father],” Oedipus inadvertently fulfils the final half of this prophecy while leaving Corinth with the intention of avoiding this realisation. He meets the King Laius, of Thebes, at a crossroads. Whether out of pride or a simple argument, Oedipus ultimately commits an act of unknowing patricide over who had the right of way. Being unawar...
If prophecy were to be real, one could expect what is bound to happen in the future. This is true; at least in “Oedipus the King” in which the protagonist, Oedipus calls forth his doom unwillingly. Fate is defined as something that unavoidably befalls a person. The author of “Oedipus the King,” Sophocles, writes a tragic fate that Oedipus was born to experience. Fate is what is meant to happen and cannot be avoided or unchanged. Furthermore, events that lead to other events could be the result for one to meet their fate. In “Oedipus the King,” Sophocles expresses the nature of fate to be determined upon choices made.
The selfishness that Oedipus possesses causes him to have abundance of ignorance. This combination is what leads to his father’s death. After fleeing Corinth and his foster family, Oedipus gets into a skirmish with an older man. The reason for the fight was because, “The groom leading the horses forced me off the road at his lord’s command” (1336). Oedipus is filled with a rage after being insulted by the lord and feels the need to act. The two men fight, but Oedipus ends up being too much for the older man, and he kills him. What Oedipus is unaware of is that the man was actually his birth father and by killing him, Oedipus has started on the path of his own destruction. Not only does Oedipus kill his father, but also everyone else, “I killed them all” (1336). The other men had no part in the scuffle, but in his rage, he did not care who he was killing.
After Oedipus becomes king of Thebes, the people of Thebes become plagued. Oedipus’ feels responsible for saving the people of Thebes. Oedipus’ pride to save the city later turns to pity after he divulges the sin he has committed. His pride forces him to find the traitor who murdered Laius. He eventually finds out that he is the sinner and gouges his eyes out to prove that he is not worthy of sight.
Oedipus Rex is a Greek play written by Sophocles. The play is set in Thebes; Thebes is infected with a plague that is killing its crops and unborn children. This plague is caused by the prophecy. The prophecy states that Oedipus would kill his father and wed his mother. Laius threw out Oedipus when he was a baby to avoid this fate, but he failed because Oedipus was not killed. Oedipus was raised as a prince in Corinth. One day he was told the prophecy and feared that he would kill his father Polybus. While running away from Corinth to escape the prophecy, Oedipus killed Laius. When Oedipus arrived in Thebes, he freed the people from the sphinx. He was named king and married Jocasta. Towards the end of the play, Oedipus finds out that he had fulfilled the prophecy and is exiled from Thebes.
Oedipus began Oedipus Rex as a king, only to end the tale as a blinded beggar. Oedipus' fall from his kingly status was not by accident or because of some other person. Oedipus is the only one that can be blamed for his misfortune. Oedipus' character traits are shown most clearly during his spiraling downfall, thinking he is "a simple man, who knows nothing", yet knowing more than he realizes by the end of the story.
“Oedipus is, as it were, only a tragic analysis. Everything is already in existence, and has only to be unraveled.” Throughout the history of literature, there has been perhaps no other character quite as complex and convoluted as Oedipus. Whether it be the reality of his parents abandoning him to die or the mere fact that he married his own mother Jocasta, Oedipus has been continually analyzed and processed by scholars in an attempt to discover the means by which Oedipus arrived at his eventual outcome. To summarize, Oedipus, being originally from Corinth, travels to Thebes in search of his true heritage. After a series of events, Oedipus becomes the king of Thebes and soon discovers the truth. Once thorough deliberation has been given to
Oedipus goes on with his journey not knowing about what he is going to do next. Oedipus runs into some people at a crossing on this journey and quarrels with them to there death. After this, he goes along to a city named Thebes where he outsmarted a beast that was cursing the city. He received praise and joy. While gaining the trust of all that lived there he quickly became King of Thebes. The people loved him because he was such a great leader. He was such a great king because he had a lot of love for his people and would do anything in his power to make them happy. As a result of this, Oedipus finds out that the city is in trouble unless the killer of their late king is found and punished. Little does Oedipus know that he is the killer of their late King or that the King was actually his father. Oedipus will strive for awnsers even though he has been warned not to dig to deep, for he will regret it.