Fate And Free Will In Sophocles Oedipus The King
The Actions of a King
The most obvious argument in the whole drama would be the question of Oedipus' choice in the events that happened in his life. Did the oracle of Delphi manage to dictate the outcome of his life simply by relaying the prophecy to the characters involved? Or would the king's tragedy still happen even if his parents did not hear of the prediction? Was the parricide and incest that occurred a product of his own decisions and actions or something the gods have meant to happen from the very beginning?
According to Carel (2006), the concept of free will and fate did not even exist in the Greek culture during the 5th Century BC Athens--the time when Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex. The concept of the gods was something of a "constant" or a way of living to them. Everything that happens in their life is somehow intertwined with either the power or the …show more content…
"Fate" only happened because of the actions of the characters themselves. And in their actions, there was no divine intervention that somehow facilitated the prophecy. Oedipus was born an intelligent and strong man who was meant for great things. This is the reason why he managed to solve the riddle of the Sphinx in the first place, and probably also the reason why he single-handedly murdered a band of travelers including his own father.
From the reader's point of view, Oedipus had a choice. The only part that fate played was as a messenger--an initiator. It did not dictate the actual manner or time by which Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother. If he truly wanted to escape the prophecy, he could have opted not to marry or kill anyone at all. But he did. He married Iocaste and killed a stranger old enough to be his own father.
However, from Oedipus' point of view, he was a pawn in the hands of the gods as proven by the following
The most obvious argument in the whole drama would be the question of Oedipus' choice in the events that happened in his life. Did the oracle of Delphi manage to dictate the outcome of his life simply by relaying the prophecy to the characters involved? Or would the king's tragedy still happen even if his parents did not hear of the prediction? Was the parricide and incest that occurred a product of his own decisions and actions or something the gods have meant to happen from the very beginning?
According to Carel (2006), the concept of free will and fate did not even exist in the Greek culture during the 5th Century BC Athens--the time when Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex. The concept of the gods was something of a "constant" or a way of living to them. Everything that happens in their life is somehow intertwined with either the power or the …show more content…
"Fate" only happened because of the actions of the characters themselves. And in their actions, there was no divine intervention that somehow facilitated the prophecy. Oedipus was born an intelligent and strong man who was meant for great things. This is the reason why he managed to solve the riddle of the Sphinx in the first place, and probably also the reason why he single-handedly murdered a band of travelers including his own father.
From the reader's point of view, Oedipus had a choice. The only part that fate played was as a messenger--an initiator. It did not dictate the actual manner or time by which Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother. If he truly wanted to escape the prophecy, he could have opted not to marry or kill anyone at all. But he did. He married Iocaste and killed a stranger old enough to be his own father.
However, from Oedipus' point of view, he was a pawn in the hands of the gods as proven by the following