Fate And Free Will In Oedipus The King

In the essay God and Man in Oedipus Rex, Silberman describes the relationship between free will and fate and how knowledge of fate is an action that can lead to further action. She uses quotes from other academic essay writers and from Oedipus to further her argument. Silberman’s purpose is to express her opinions about how free will and fate are used in the play. She writes in an intellectual tone for scholars who wish to study and analyse the element of fate in Oedipus. Oedipus’s early actions were controlled by fate, however, what led to his fall was brought on by his own actions and free will, he has free will in most of his actions, as knowledge is an action, and he chooses his own punishment for his sins. Once Oedipus starts to unravel
It is his own fault that his actions are discovered. Oedipus gaining knowledge about his real parentage and how he has fulfilled the prophecy is an action. He believes that gaining this knowledge will help him decide his action to save his city, but his wrong. This knowledge instead leads to his downfall. Although Oedipus is given his fate just from being born, how he fulfills the prophecy and what he does after, are his own actions. Oedipus lives in blissful ignorance not knowing that he had completed the prophecy, but once he discovers he may have fulfilled it, his desire for the entire truth lead to his demise. Oedipus believes that after knowing the whole truth he may learn how to save his city. He thinks that knowledge will give him what he needs to make good decisions. However, Silberman explains, “Knowledge is itself action and that action is not the relief of suffering but the near destruction of the knower” (295). This is shown in Oedipus, as he forces the
In a twisted turn of events, instead of finding a traitor to be the one behind the plague of his city, he finds himself to be the one that led his city unknowingly to ruins. After Oedipus has full knowledge of what he has done, he takes matters into his own hands. He blinds himself. No god or prophecy forces him to do this, he does it because he feels great remorse for his actions. In the exodus, is it said that while blinding himself, Oedipus cries, “You, you’ll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused! Too long you looked on the ones you never should have seen, blind to the ones you longed to see, to know! Blind from this hour on! Blind in the darkness, blind!” He blinds himself so he never has to look at his family and see his sins living in front of him. He could of had many different punishments, but he chooses to blind himself, he wants a punishment worse than death. This shows that not everything in the life of Oedipus is governed by