Oedipus

Oedipus

Even though "fate" seems to determine Oedipus' life, he does, in fact, have a free will.

His choices brought the prophecy to life. Only his decisions (not influenced by anybody) he made. Of course those decisions were in side of the limits set by fate. When Oedipus heard a prophesy that his going to kill his father and sleep with his mother he ran away, even when he new there were suspicions of him being the real son of his parents. There some lines from the play: "...There was a man dining with us one day who had too much wine and man shouted at me-half drunk and shouting that I was not rightly called my father's son. ... Without my parent's knowledge, I went to Delphi, but Apollo did not say what I had gone to hear. Instead, he answered questions I had not asked and told of horror and misery beyond believe - how I would know my mothers bad ... and cause the death of my own father."

The prophecy drove the Oedipus away from home; the terror of the predictions was too much to live with. Oedipus tried everything not to meet the prophecy, and still when he came to Thebes and became a king Oedipus married an older lady. It was his choice, even when he knew there was a danger of him to know mothers bad, he made it.

Oedipus' quest for truth was his choice. When the Teiresias tried not to reveal the truth, The Oedipus was the one, who made the priest to talk: "This city gave you life and yet you refuse to answer! You speak as if you were her enemy. ... For God's sake, if you know, don't turn away from us! We are pleading. We are begging you. ... You will not tell? You monster! You could stir the stones of earth to a burning rage! You will newer tell? What it will take?"

As the truth is getting revealed: "... You, Oedipus, are the desecrator, the polluter of this land." Oedipus does not believe (his choice). He (Oedipus) start to accuse Creon of truing to take his powers away (king). And still want to reveal whole truth. After talking to Jocasta Oedipus faces that he in fact might killed the king Laius. " There was s herald leading a carriage drawn by horses and the man riding in the carriage ... The driver pushed. In anger, I struck him. The old man saw it, reached for his lash and waited till I had passed. Then he struck me on the head. But he paid-oh yes he paid. ... I killed him. And again that was a choice, he (Oedipus) knew that he will kill his own father, even when he killed an old man he didn't thought of possibility, that the old man might be his father.

Oedipus fate was determined before he was even born, and by trying t o overcome it, he actually perfectly filing in his position in life which is a prophesy. Oedipus thought that he oversmarted the Gods, but in fact every his move he made moved him closer to prophesy becoming a reality.

Oedipus was a victime of fate, his futur was foretold by an Oracle, he had no way of knowing that his wife was his mother nor that the stranger he killed was his father. Oedipus could not prevent his own downfall. Oedipus was the king of Thebes, he became king when he cured the city of a deadly plague. He cured the plague by solving the riddle of the mythical creature, the Sphinkx. Now the city is suffering from another plague and as king Oedipus must solve the riddle of this one.

When Oedipus was born he was taken to an Oracle, this was custom for the rich. The Oracle was to tell his fate. The Oracle said that when Oedipus grows up he will marry his mother and he would also kill his father, "... Why, Loxias declared that I should one day marry my own mother, And with my own hands shed my father's bool. Wherefore Corinth I have kept away far, for long years; and prosperd; none the less it is most sweet to see one's parents' face..."(p36 ln1-6). When his parents herd this they gave Oedipus to a man and he was to get rid of the baby by leaving it in the forest, but an servant of Polybus, the king of Corinth, finds the baby and brings him to the king. The king falls in love with the baby and takes him in as one of his own.

Oedipus left Corinth to avoid his foretold fate, he went to Thebes. On his journey he ran into a caravan at the crossroads before entering Thebes. This caravan was of the present King of Thebes, Laius, but Oedipus did not know that. The people on the caravan started insulting Oedipus. Oedipus lost his temper and in a rage he killed them all, except for one servant who escaped "... I found myself upon the self-same spot where, you say, the king perished ... When in my travels I wa come near this place where three roads meet, there met me a herald, and a man that rode in a colt-carriage ... And the old man himself, would thrust me, I, deing enraged, strike him who jostled me-- The driver-- and the old man ... He paid though! duly I ay not; but in brief, smitten by the staff in this right hand of mine ... out of the carriage straight he rolls down headlong; and I slay them all..."(pg29 ln13-27). As it turns out the man he killed was his real father. There was no way that Oedipus could of kown that this stranger was his father, he had never met or seen him ever before that one time.

After Oedipus finished killing his father, he continued on his journey to the city of Thebes. When he arrived at Thebes there was a wide-spread plague in the city. In order to free the city of this plague you had to solve the riddle that came with it, the riddle of the Sphinkx. Oedipus was clever enough to solve the riddle, which in turn cured the city of the plague. The city which was recently missing a king made Oedipus the king since he saved them. In the imperial palace there was Jocasta, a recent widdow of the missing and presumed dead King Laius. As it was acustomed, Oedipus married the widdow Jocasta. The city was happy with their king for the next years, Jocasta and Oedipus had two daughters. Then another dark cloud came over Thebes, there was another plague infecting the city. An Oracle was contacted and the way to solve this riddle was to banish the killer of the former king Laius from the city. Oedipus in the process of solving the riddle Oedipus found out that Jocasta was infact is real mother "But she, perhaps ... I have her for mother..."(pg39 ln1-5). When Jocasta finds this out he then kills her self, "The illustrious Jocasta is no more..."(pg44 ln18).

Therfore after all that being said, I firmly believe that Oedipus was a helpless victime of fate. Oedipus's future was foretold by an Oracle of the Gods, he was to