Preview

Fate And Freewill In Oedipus The King

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
451 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Fate And Freewill In Oedipus The King
Fate versus freewill is a baffling subject matter. Many believe in fate; fate is one's destiny. Their freewill is what gets them there. Some may say that there is only fate or only freewill, but the play Oedipus demonstrates a case of both fate and freewill. The mystery that is fate versus freewill is what drives Oedipus. Though Oedipus tries to avoid his fate at all costs his freewill gets him there, making fate versus freewill a prominent subject throughout the play.

In the beginning of the play the audience is introduced to Oedipus’ fate. His fate is that he will kill his father and end up having relations with his mother. Due to his fate Oedipus is sent away from his family as a small baby. He ends up being taken in by another family and they raise him as their own. Oedipus knows his fate but he also believes that the family he is raised by is his biological family. Knowing his fate leads him to leaving his home so that he can not hurt his family. What he does next, his freewill, shows that no matter how hard he tried he could not avoid his fate.
…show more content…
This man that Oedipus would murder would be no other than his biological father. This is a clear case of fate versus freewill. Oedipus takes many precautions to avoid his fate but his choices will lead him to his fate without his knowing. Now after Oedipus kills his father he will find himself falling in love with a women. She has his children and they live together. This women that his loves is his biological mother. This again is a part of this fate and again his freewill got him

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Company Q Case Study

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Achilles heel of most business is profit, the ability to keep up those margins and cut losses. Company Q's bottom line was too shallow resulting in the closing of two stores. Both locations were in heavy metropolitan areas with high crime rates and poor neighborhoods. Such actions can have a ripple effect on the community, causing current issues to intensify while adding to unemployment. Poverty that already existed within the community will be more prevalent now. The increase in poverty will hurt the other stores still open, as they will now be targeted for theft. Company Q 's decision to throw away day old items is not socially responsible. They are being socially irresponsible by putting needs of the company first and disregarding the needs of the community. Furthermore, Company Q is being wasteful by throwing food away that could be used by the less fortunate. Company Q is also labeling good employees as untrustworthy employees. This can create tension between owners and staff. The actions of company Q are going to hurt their business in the long run, because community and staff will notice the lack of social responsibility. People want to shop at and work for a place they are proud of and feel loyal to.…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    If Oedipus was fated to kill his father and marry his mother, then, according to the Greeks, he was going to do so. Nothing anyone said or did could stop it from happening. Sophocles believed the same thing. This play shows that Sophocles believed in fate rather than free will. The whole story is about how no one can escape their fate. Though Oedipus leaves…

    • 508 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus Complex Analysis

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The most common theory for the actions of Oedipus in his story is the Oedipus complex, theorized by Freud. In the story Oedipus, it was his fate to marry his mother and have children with her, and kill his father. The Oedipus complex says that this must happen at a young age. However, this complex doesn’t apply to Oedipus, because of the different circumstances in which these actions occurred.…

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play, people lived their lives based on fate. The people relied on oracles to reveal this fate. Oedipus attempted to control this by using his free will. The oracle disclosed that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus wanted to prevent this from happening so he used his free will to control his life’s direction. He chose to leave his home in Corinth. He moved to the town of Thebes, where he met his love and had four children. Unbeknownst to him, fate had taken over and he moved to the city Thebes, where his birth parents actually lived. His love was later revealed as his birth mother.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    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. However, it not fair for Oedipus to take full responsibility of killing his father and having an incent relationship with Queen Jocasta because fate has overcome his free will.…

    • 1552 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus blinds himself in shame, accepting full responsibility for poising the city and willingly takes the punishment of exile. In the end, Oedipus’ arrogance led to his downfall. He lost his wife, his eyesight and his kingship. He uncovered the riddles of his life and found out that he was the boy who was the subject of the prophecy. His intelligence, egotism and arrogance led to this finding which caused him losing all that he had. The resolution of his life puts Oedipus above any other tragic hero. He unravels his life in a way that pushes the limits of agony a human can take and there he finds incomparable greatness of…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The argument on whether free will or fate governs the destinies of human beings has been the main topic of various writings, such as the tale of Oedipus Rex written by Sophocles. Oedipus demonstrated to have a fulfilling praise life by many to see, however, he had a past or a fate unknown to him. His naive and stubborn personality made this lie an even greater tragedy. As Mike Kelley once said “Guilt is a powerful affliction. You can try to turn your back on it, but that’s when it sneaks up behind you and eats you alive. Some people struggle to understand their own guilt, unwilling or unable to justify the part they play in it. Others run away from their guilt, shedding their conscience until there’s no conscience left at all.” Oedipus guilt…

    • 201 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    himself. Oedipus chooses to ignore multiple warnings, involving truth of his life and parentage. He chooses to disregard the ruinous prophecy of his fate to murder his father and wed his mother, since he thinks he can escape the divination of the gods. Oedipus attempts to defy the gods by fleeing his homeland, Corinth, but instead launches himself directly into the hands of fate.…

    • 1509 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Sophocles play, Oedipus Rex, Oedipus is told he is destined a terrible fate. He makes choices throughout the play that seems to lead him to his his downfall. His choices helped determine his fate rather than his fate being set in stone and this shows readers that free will overpowers fate. Everything that happened in the play was due to the choices that were made.…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Throughout the play of Oedipus the King, Oedipus and other members of the play makes some decisions that ultimately decide Oedipus’s fate. Some of Oedipus’s decisions are a result from an oracle, but his personal decisions ultimately lead to his fall to death. His decisions of running away from his home kingdom, pushing the oracle to speak more, and searching for the shepherd that knew where Oedipus came from leads to Oedipus’s fate.…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oedipus freewill at Thebes was only a part of his fate. This raises a question at the heart of the play; does Oedipus have any choice in the matter? He ends up killing his father and marrying his mother without knowing it, He tried to avoid doing these things, this could have been avoided if Oedipus did not know his own fate. Does Oedipus have free will and the ability to choose his own path ? he does have free will for example he did not have to kill the man a thebes but he was set on that path because of his own fate no matter what path you take the road at the end will be the same.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Fate and Oedipus

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Since the beginning, fate has been the building blocks for human’s lives. Whenever fate has been set in motion, it CANNOT be escaped. In Sophocles’ play Oedipus the King there are several major playing factors in the role of fate. Every action whether intentional or accidental, plays right into the hands of fate. It is absolutely unavoidable. No matter what is done to try to change one’s fate, once it is set in motion there is simply no changing it.…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Oedipus the King, there are many limits of having free will over one’s own fate. It is illustrated through Sophocles’ play that not only do the Gods control peoples fate through prophecies and interferences, but other humans can play a role as well. People’s actions may directly affect whether a God’s prophecy plays out or not. There are multiple examples of this in Oedipus’ life. He was determined not to fulfil the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother, but his determination was fruitless because of the actions of many other characters. Oedipus’ biological parents, their messenger/shepherd, and his adoptive parents were key people in making the prophecy inevitable.…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    School Uniforms

    • 337 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Over the last few decades, the argument for whether school uniforms should be implemented or not has been debated quite a lot. Uniforms should be implemented in schools across the country to provide safety, to help students perform better in school, and to decrease bullying.…

    • 337 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hospitality Industry

    • 304 Words
    • 1 Page

    A 'hotel' or 'inn' is defined by the British law as 'the place where a bonafide traveller can receive food and shelter provided he is in a position to pay for it and is in a fit condition to be received'. Hence a hotel must provide food and lodging to a traveller on payment and has, in turn, the right to refuse if the traveller is drunk, disorderly or is not in a position to pay for the services.…

    • 304 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays