Oedipus: A Victim of Fate
Oedipus: A Victim of Fate
Oedipus, the protagonist from Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King”, is a great example of the immense power that fate has within literature. Sophocles is very effective in portraying the wrath of fate as he shows how Oedipus is a victim of fate and, despite his endless efforts, was unable to avoid it. Fate managed to overcome Oedipus’s efforts to avoid falling victim to it. He is completely innocent of what happened to him. Oedipus was a good king and a man of honorable character and the circumstances he finds himself in is all caused by ill fate. Oedipus had no control over what happened to him and was unknowingly born into this destiny which makes him a victim of fate.
In Sophocles’ play, “Oedipus the King”, Oedipus was trapped in a chain of unfortunate events. When Oedipus was only a few days old, he was bound by the ankles and sent away from his parents to die on a mountain side all because an oracle gave him a bad fate. However, he was saved and taken to another city by the name of Corinth where Oedipus was adopted by the king and queen, Polybus and Merope. Oedipus never learned of his fate until he was older and went to an oracle, Apollo, who told him “You are fated to couple with your mother, you will bring a breed of children into the light no man can bear to see- you will kill your father, the one who gave you life!” (873-875). Once he learned of his fate he left Corinth and returned to his birth city, Thebes, where he becomes a victim of fate because of his bizarre circumstances and his inability to get away from the oracle.
The fate given to Oedipus from birth dooms him from the start. First, his birth parents, Lauis and Jocasta, fear the oracle and nail Oedipus’s feet together and leave him for dead on a mountain. The next time Oedipus’s fate is told, he “heard all that and ran.” (876) He assumed it concerned Polybus and Merope, so he ran away from Corinth. Oedipus attempts to run from his destiny instead of just living out his
Oedipus, the protagonist from Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King”, is a great example of the immense power that fate has within literature. Sophocles is very effective in portraying the wrath of fate as he shows how Oedipus is a victim of fate and, despite his endless efforts, was unable to avoid it. Fate managed to overcome Oedipus’s efforts to avoid falling victim to it. He is completely innocent of what happened to him. Oedipus was a good king and a man of honorable character and the circumstances he finds himself in is all caused by ill fate. Oedipus had no control over what happened to him and was unknowingly born into this destiny which makes him a victim of fate.
In Sophocles’ play, “Oedipus the King”, Oedipus was trapped in a chain of unfortunate events. When Oedipus was only a few days old, he was bound by the ankles and sent away from his parents to die on a mountain side all because an oracle gave him a bad fate. However, he was saved and taken to another city by the name of Corinth where Oedipus was adopted by the king and queen, Polybus and Merope. Oedipus never learned of his fate until he was older and went to an oracle, Apollo, who told him “You are fated to couple with your mother, you will bring a breed of children into the light no man can bear to see- you will kill your father, the one who gave you life!” (873-875). Once he learned of his fate he left Corinth and returned to his birth city, Thebes, where he becomes a victim of fate because of his bizarre circumstances and his inability to get away from the oracle.
The fate given to Oedipus from birth dooms him from the start. First, his birth parents, Lauis and Jocasta, fear the oracle and nail Oedipus’s feet together and leave him for dead on a mountain. The next time Oedipus’s fate is told, he “heard all that and ran.” (876) He assumed it concerned Polybus and Merope, so he ran away from Corinth. Oedipus attempts to run from his destiny instead of just living out his
Cited: Sophocles. “Oedipus the King.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013. 1442-1484. Print