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Some people believe that all of their actions are predetermined; almost as if it is set and stone. On the other hand, others believe that you make your own actions and decisions. The story of Oedipus Rex is one of the best examples for this because Oedipus is faced with the impending truth of his foretold prophecy, but continues to try and avoid it through his own choices. No amount of running and hiding could free him from what he was always going to be condemned to; killing his father and sleeping with his mother. In the end, it was fate that led to his downfall, and fate that controls the lives of people. Something many people get confused is fate and freewill itself. The two words mean two different things, and are not connected to each other. Fate is believing that things will happen for a reason and that they are meant to take place, and free will is having the freedom of making choices that are your own and are not affected by the past or future. The contradiction of the two words can be seen when Jocasta is talking to Oedipus about his prophecy. “Listen to me and learn that human beings have no part in the craft of prophecy. (814-815)”. Here Jocasta plainly states that the actions of people have no effect on their fate. Meaning that someone can make their own choices and live their life, but cannot change what is meant for them. For example, when …show more content…
For instance, Oedipus attempting to outrun fate. He ran away from home and his adoptive parents, so that the prophecy would not come true, but this was counteractive. If only he had just accepted his fate, or not heard of it at all, the deaths of his parents could have been avoided. Since he attempted to elude his fate, it is safe to assume that the Gods were not very with his actions. This can be proved since the Gods are the ones who put a plague on Thebes, since the city was harboring a thief; which was
Humans go through life fearing what struggles they may face, instead of taking control over their problems. In Mythology by Edith Hamilton, the Greek warriors took control over every struggle that came before them. Oedipus did his best to avoid his fate. Achilles knew the prophecy that was put in place for him. Odysseus’s biggest struggle would be his journey home. Hercules’s greatest task would be not letting his strength get the best of him. In Greek mythology, the journeys represented the internal struggles and eventual perseverance of mortals.
A main example of fate would be when Billy is on an airplane. In Slaughterhouse-Five, it states that "Billy, knowing the plane was going to crash pretty soon, closed his eyes, traveled in time back to 1944" (198). Soon after, "the plane smacked into the top of Sugarbush Mountain in Vermont. Everyone was killed but Billy and the copilot" (199). Instead of doing anything about it, Billy just waits for the plane to crash. If Billy had free will, he would have tried to warn the others on the plane, or not gotten onto it at all.
Marilyn Monroe once said, “I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they 're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” Is fate subjected to one’s actions or is there another force that intervenes? Two choices to pick from, but each decision will result in a different ending. Most people believe they are free to choose whatever they want, however was fate already predestined that makes people decide their fate regardless of choice? Over the centuries, people have pondered upon the fact that integrity, justice, and moral principles play a role in deciding one’s fate. Does this mean that if Odysseus were to put aside his pride and be humble along his journey home, he would not have gone through all that trouble for anything? Is fate uncontrollable even for the Gods to handle? Forrest Gump is born mental
Fate is, according to nonbelievers, just another possibility. Something pondered by scientists and religious leaders, it is to some a mystery whether an event is meant to be with accordance to fate. One could say fate has control over everything, but there is a fault to that theory. A simple explanation to disprove fate is to say if a ball is to be dropped, it would eventually hit the ground. One would most likely speculate gravity pulled the ball to the ground, not fate. This is called the principle of cause and effect, which can be expressed in everyday events. The principle of cause and effect can help to explain events which happens everywhere, even in works of literature. For instance, the play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare displays elements of the principle of cause and effect with the events leading to the death of Romeo and Juliet. Events leading to the lovers' obsession with one another, and the struggles they face. The decisions characters make in Romeo and Juliet ultimately alters their own and other characters' ending. The characters in the play, including Romeo and Juliet themselves, are to blame for their fatal actions. Romeo and Juliet's deaths in the play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare aren't caused by fate, but by a series of preventable and alterable logical occurrences followed by fatal consequences.
...ate. This is shown in the books The Prince, Macbeth, The Oresteia, and The Divine Comedy. God is the one who decides what happens to someone during their life, but humans can influence his decision and ultimately decide their own fate. In Macbeth and The Oresteia, Agamemnon and Macbeth are both given prophecies. Agamemnon was given a choice on sacrificing his daughter or not and Macbeth had the choice to either let chance happen or take matters into his own hands. These books show that human beings do in fact have control over their fate. Sometimes in these books they blame the Gods or other people and say that they made them do it. Since human beings have free will this is not a viable excuse. People can react to things however they want. Therefore, even though God may decide what happens to you, human beings control their fate by the actions they choose in life.
And even now, that ambivalence remains. People are unsure of whether we have freewill, or whether all of our actions are part of a predetermined plan. So, why is it that throughout history and the present, the debate between fate and freewill remains? Predetermined fate is a hard thing to believe in because everyone has a different view on life. A person that rose from the figurative bottom to the figurative top might think that their rise was only successful because of their own hard work, while others might think that it was all part of their destiny....
...that fate. Events that lead to other events will eventually lead one to their fate. “Oedipus the King” is a great play that sets an example of what fate is. Oedipus chooses to flee from home, in attempt to avoid the god’s statement of his fate from coming true. However, Oedipus’s decision for fleeing is what was necessary to make his fate come true. Undoubtedly, this is what was meant to happen because Oedipus allowed it to. Perhaps if Oedipus ignored the god and never did a thing then perhaps the outcome could have been different for Oedipus. However it did not turn out that way and the choices that Oedipus made is what led him to his doom.
Fate, the belief that all things in time are already decided, is what guides us through our lives. It is the silent spectator to all we do, and continually spins our destinies to take shape. Such views may very well be correct, as fate, is completely impossible to prove. Moreover, it is the development of events beyond a person's control. Not everything is preordained. The only determining factor of your fate is yourself.
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.
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.
In The Odyssey the gods are responsible for controlling many aspects of where the story goes, but the people still have to choose to go. The gods in The Odyssey are who held Odysseus captive for over eight years. They were responsible for his capture in the first place and then refused to let him go for almost a decade. When they finally decided he should be allowed to find his way home they made it known to his captor Kalypso. However Odysseus still had to choose to leave. Kalypso tried to keep him by offering immortality. "You would stay here, and guard this house, and be immortal" (Homer 267). Odysseus could have stayed but he chose to go. Some say that the gods knew Odysseus would not stay and that is why they decided to let him go.
The idea of fate has baffled mankind for centuries. Can humans control what happens to them, or is everyone placed in a predestined world designed by a higher power? The Epic of Gilgamesh and Oedipus The King highlight on the notion that no matter what, people cannot control what is destined to occur. Interestingly enough, many other distantly connected cultures had, and have similar gods or goddesses who play a role in the fate of individuals. Oedipus, King of Thebes, was told by the Oracle at Delphi that he would one day kill his father and marry his mother. Determined not to let this prophecy verify his fears, Oedipus does all in his power to prevent this from happening, yet fails. Similarly, Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, attempts to obtain immortality, but fails as well. Gilgamesh's and Oedipus's intense fear and ignorance cause them to try to interfere with their fates, leading to their failures and realization of the futility of trying to control destiny.
In the stories/plays and poems of Gilgamesh, Oedipus the King and Achilles in the Iliad, there are three main heroes who have their fate decided for them by the Gods. Each hero has had fate placed on them according to the god’s, however as fate is understood there is also the idea of free will. Gilgamesh is two-thirds god and one-third man, who feels as though he has no equal, Gilgamesh feels superior to all men until he meets Enkidu, a creation sent to stop Gilgamesh from his reckless and wild ways. Oedipus is the king of Thebes and his fate was prophecies by the blind soothsayer Tiresias in which he was to kill his father and marry his mother. In the poem the Iliad, Achilles was the hero that would win the war with Troy, the prophet Calchas predicted that Achilles would die at an early age. In all of the epics, each character had a destiny to full filled, blessed with extra ordinary powers and abilities, each had the a...
Oedipus was a victime of fate, his futur was foretold by an Oracle, he had no way of knowing that his wife was his mother nor that the stranger he killed was his father. Oedipus could not prevent his own downfall. Oedipus was the king of Thebes, he became king when he cured the city of a deadly plague. He cured the plague by solving the riddle of the mythical creature, the Sphinkx. Now the city is suffering from another plague and as king Oedipus must solve the riddle of this one.
When Oedipus realizes what his future holds he decides to avoid it at all costs. As a result, he picked up and ran away. He decided not to tell his parents he was leaving so that he could avoid hurting their feelings. When he was on his journey to Thebes there were people coming towards him and they got in an upset about who had the right of way where three roads crossed. He ended up killing all but one of the men there. This is where Sophocles proves that you can never run from your fate. Even Jocasta accounts for this happening, “That it was fate that he should die a victim at the hands of his own son, a son to be born to Laius and me. But now, he the king was killed by a foreign highway robber at the place were three roads meet-so goes the story” (1.1.791-796). The man he killed in that street was actually his dad.