6 November 2014 Oedipus Rex signs of Destiny In the dramatic tragedy, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles it explains the statements of fate and destiny. There are many examples and essays that agree that the play does give examples of these terms because of what happens throughout the whole play. The examples of how fate or destiny happens are that Oedipus does kill his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta. Oedipus’s parents tried to beat fate by trying to kill Oedipus but it was not successful, therefore fate or destiny wins by Oedipus killing his father and marrying his mother but not knowing that they were his biological parents. In the following sources that agree that Oedipus Rex was in fact an example of fate or destiny was the reading The Oedipus Complex by Sigmund Freud, he also notices the destiny in the play that Oedipus had face.
The whole time in the play you could see the prophecy was coming true. It seemed that he was destined no matter what. Oedipus was cursed from birth to someday marry his mother and to murder his father. This prophecy, as warned by the oracle was going to come true (as written in his fate), no matter what he may have done to avoid it. From the beginning, Oedipus Rex was a baby, Lauis and Jocasta found out from the oracle, that Oedipus Rex was going to kill his father and marry his mother.
Oedipus did end up taking one blow with his staff and ended up killing his father. Because the gods gave him this fate, there was no way of avoiding it, or trying to alter it. One can also argue that his free will played a role in his actions. Not everything that he did was laid out before him. By the end of the play Oedipus does admit to Thebes that because of his choices, he led himself to his fate.
In my opinion I think that fate is the most dominant worldview. In this essay I will describe why I think why fate is dominant. There are many examples that show how the fate worldview is present. One of them is where Laius goes to a place to hear his prophecy and he was told that his son was going to kill him, and even though he abandoned his son on the top of a mountain, without knowing his son did kill him and married jocoausta his mother. That was another example of how fate is present because the oracle also said that Oedipus was going to marry his mother.
However, the more inquiry by the characters; the more negative the play becomes. The knowledge seeking begins before the play even starts. The former King and his Queen make a trip to an oracle, to make an inquiry about their future. What they find out is a very unfortunate truth. Their own son (who has not been born yet) will grow up, and he will kill his father (King Laois) and marry his mother (Queen Jocaste).
The theme of justice seeps into the pores of Hamlet and becomes its very essence. The entire play is driven by Hamlet’s resolution to revenge his father’s wrongful death: “Thy commandment all alone shall live within the book and volume of my brain” (1.5.103-104). From hereon, Hamlet feels an overwhelming purpose “to set it right” and takes actions to achieve this goal (1.5.190). The conflict becomes resolved and justice prevails only after Hamlet slays Claudius. Hamlet stabs the king and Laertes remarks, “He is justly serv’d” (5.2.294).
Once he finds out this is true he blinds himself and banned his self from civilization forever. He is the most tragic hero because fate was a main part of the tragedy. Oedipus rose to be king then fell to become a blind person who committed incest. Hamlet main goal was to avenge his father. Hamlet’s father’s ghost appears to Hamlet telling him what happened and to avenge him.
Oedipus has sent Creon, his brother-in-law, to the house of Apollo to ask help from the oracle. And now, Creon returns with the instruction: Thebes will be cured of the plague, as soon as the killer of the previous king, Laius, is caught. After hearing this, Oedipus vows to find out the murderer and punish him. With the suggestion from chorus, Oedipus also summons the blind prophet Tiresias for help. When Tiresias arrives, he claims that even though he knows the truth, he is reluctant to answer.
“However, even before a name had been given to the infant, Apollo’s oracle foretold nothing but ill: he was destined one day to kill his father and then to become his mother’s husband. (Gee 194)” It just so happened that fate intervened once more. “When Oedipus became a young man he heard a rumour that he had been adopted … he therefore went to Delphi and asked the ministers of Apollo who his true parents where, but all he was told was that he would kill his father and marry his mother. (Gee 194)” Oedipus, thinking that the king and queen of Corinth are his parents, leaves in attempt to escape that destiny, to no avail. By leaving, he left behind his parents, family members and friends.
He uses the prologue to immediately set the background as a priest announces that blight has fallen upon the land and that the purpose is to determine the cause of this plague. Oedipus has already solved the last plague with his super intelligence, “I am Oedipus the world knows my fame” (line and lets all the citizens know he has sent Creon to the oracle which was his brother in law. Creon returns to reveal the plague won’t end until the murderer of King Laius is driven from the land. This introduces the conflict as Oedipus promises to obey the gods and pledges himself to find and punish the murderer, creating dramatic irony he is unaware that he is the actual murderer and heightens the education of the play by its conclusion. In terms of structure the parados introduces the chorus.