What Is The Theme Of Fate In Oedipus The King

Eva Borton

Oedipus Essay

The story of Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, revolves around a theme of fate and free will, and the question of which it is that causes Oedipus’ downfall. Oedipus’ terrible prophecy to kill his father and marry his mother was ultimately fulfilled, but the question remains if it was the result of destiny or human error- error caused by knowledge of the prophecy itself. Interestingly enough, an extremely similar situation is found in a story written well over 2,000 years later: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by JK Rowling. The prophecy about Voldemort and one with the power to defeat him, “Neither can live while the other survives” (Order of the Phoenix 841), could have applied to Harry or Neville, or even no one at all, had Voldemort not acted on the prophecy and tried to kill Harry, “mark[ing] him as his equal” (Order of the Phoenix 841) as the prophecy predicted. Although both prophecies may have seemed unavoidable, Harry Potter offers an interesting take on

As Dumbledore said to Harry, “If Voldemort had never heard of the prophecy, would it have been fulfilled?... Of course not!... The prophecy does not mean you have to do anything!... But Voldemort continues to set store by the prophecy… which makes it certain, really, that… one of [you] is going to end up killing the other” (Half Blood Prince, 510-512). In Oedipus the King, too, the prophecy is only fulfilled because Laius and Jocasta heard it and set store by it, sending Oedipus to be killed because they “[were] afraid of dreadful prophecies” (Sophocles 88). In this way, they made it come true, not through fate alone but through their own free will. Once the events were set in motion, however, they continued as predicted, rooted in free will but still guided by