Oedipus The King: Fate Vs. Free Will The ancient Greek writer, Sophocles suggests that while there are factors beyond mankind’s control that we have the power to make choices that affect our destiny. In his play, Oedipus the King, Sophocles makes it quite clear that although everyone is born with a fate, you have the ability to alter its direction and toll. The main character of the play, Oedipus, is based on the way Sophocles portrays the equilibrium between fate and freewill, and shows the reader, how one can alter his destiny through the hand of free will.
This play shows an underlying relationship of man’s free will existing within the cosmic order or fate that the Greeks believed guided the universe. Man was free to choose and was held responsible for his own actions. Both the concepts of fate and free will played an essential part in Oedipus’ destruction. Although he was a victim of fate, he was not controlled by it. One example of Oedipus showing his free will is in the beginning of the play when there is a plague in Thebes that can only be stopped by finding King Laius’ killer.
Oedipus tells Creon that he curses the killer of Lauis to live in exile, “Now my curse on the murderer, Whoever he is a lone man unknown in his crime or one among many, let that man drag out his life in agony, step by painful step” (Line 280-283). This quote shows free will because Oedipus tells Creon that whoever is the killer of Lauis, he is going to send him to exile in the mountains. He could have investigated the murder, but in his hastiness, he condemns the murderer, and in so, unknowingly curses himself. This example shows that although his fate is predetermined, he has the power to change its direction.
In order for Sophocles’ play to be categorized as tragic, the tragic hero had to have some sort of flaw. The hero’s tragic flaws are the qualities, which lead to his downfall. Oedipus’ pride, ignorance, insolence towards the gods, and unrelenting quest for the truth contributed to his destruction; these are his tragic flaws. The chorus warns us of man’s need to have respect for the gods, and the dangers of too much pride. Oedipus disregarded the words of the chorus, and instead, showed great dislike towards the Gods and Apollo: ’Twas Apollo, friends, willed the evil, willed, and brought the agony to pass! nd yet the hand that struck was mine, mine only”. This passage shows his hatred toward the Gods and his disrespect towards their power and authority, but also shows that his free will was what brought him to kill. Another example of free will is that Oedipus refused to stop looking for the truth that Jocasta and Lauis were Oedipus’ parents when Jocasta, his wife, told him to. “Stop in the name of god, if you love your own life, call off this search! My suffering is enough. Listen to me” (Line 1603-1605). Oedipus replied, “Listen to you? No more. I must know it all, I must see the truth at last” (Line 1169-1170).
These quotes also prove free will by Oedipus because Jocasta doesn’t want him to know about his past and he insists and doesn’t listen to her. Oedpius had an unrelenting quest to find out the truth of his past. If he had chosen to listen to her, he would have saved himself from the prophecy. Since Oedipus was so concerned with finding the murderer of King Laius (himself), the events that took place put the prophecy back into motion. Oedipus was so busy trying to escape the propacy, that he actually let the propacy catch back up to him. There comes a point where I think your free will can lead to your fate.
In this case, Oedipus’s free will did indeed affect his fate. Although he was able to outrun it for a little while, it caught back up with him due to his free will; the decisions made by Oedipus along his course to evade his dreadful fate. One of Oedipus’s greatest sins was trying to reach the level of the Gods by trying to escape his fate. In Greek mythology, the gods are the almighty powers, and no one can compare; not royalty, nor prophets. So when Oedipus tries to defy the gods, by saying that they were the ones who cursed him in the first place, this was a grave sin in those times.
But in the end when he tears out his eyes, Oedipus is accepting the full responsibility of his acts and knew that he must be punished for his sins; those being angering the gods and not accepting their power and greatness. Therefore the last act of destruction was caused by Oedipus’ free will, but his tragic fate came about because of the role of the gods in human affairs. I can personally relate to this play because I agree wholeheartedly with Sophocles. I have shown you a couple examples from this play that explain how Oedipus uses free will to influence his fate. My personal views of this topic agree with my thesis.
I believe that everything we do in life is of our own hand. I also believe, like the Greeks, that we are born with a fate, a predetermined path to life. Once we are born, however, that path (fate) can be altered as little or as much as we so choose. Unlike Oedipus, we will never know our fate, but I think that doesn’t change the fact that our free will changes everything in our lives. I do think that sometimes, things happen that you can’t control, but when that happens, you can always choose the next step after that. Deciding what you do in your life after a situation is not fate at all, that is all free will.
Looking outside of Greek mythology and my own personal opinions, I look to the Internet to find out some more information on fate and free will. “Free will implies choice. It means that we can act – we can choose and then we can act upon that choice. It assumes, therefore, that there is such a thing as cause and effect. Our choice becomes a cause for our effective action. All of this, then, is in contradiction of the idea of ‘fate’, which implies that something will happen regardless of our choices and actions; that an effect will occur, regardless of the causes that are in place.
And yet, of course, those who believe in fate will argue that the fated outcome is a result of some (freely chosen) past action, possibly even in a previous incarnation”. Looking at this interpretation, I come to understand that fate and free will contradict each other. Although I still believe that you can influence your fate, the definitions of each still seem somewhat shaky to me. I then find this: “Fate is the result of the past. Free will is the result of the present. ” This quote ties into my thesis, and allows me to understand more about fate and free will.
This question about fate vs. free will has been discussed countless amounts of times. Although I know my position, my position is not the only one on this matter. Playing off of Sophocles, some thinkers agree with the idea that Fate wins every time. Meaning people have no control over their destiny. Then there is the idea that Sophocles, who is presenting these questions, is wrong with the idea that fate wins every time. Meaning, from the play, one can infer that people really don’t have any control over their destiny, and that we do have the power to make choices to affect our destiny.
Lastly, there are those that opt for Sophocles last opinion: that we influence our fate, but Sophocles is wrong about that. Meaning, there are factors beyond our control, we don’t have the power to make choices that affect our destiny. This opinion ties into the play, and I can see why some people agree with this statement. The last opinion is taking the viewpoint that the gods have almighty power, and our meager position is not strong enough to influence something as powerful as destiny. Oedipus uses free will to make his own decisions. He told Creon that the killer of Lauis was to live in exile.
He refused to stop looking for the truth when Jocasta told him to, and he stabbed his eyes and blinded himself because he knew about his past. I think that all of these examples are free will because he did them by his own will; he wanted to make his own fate, not have somebody else control him. He was responsible of his own actions and that almost cost him his life, and led to his exile from Thebes. My opinion about fate is that sometimes things happen to you without controlling it and you can’t do anything about it. But with free will, you make your own decisions; if you make a mistake in your decision, then you have face the consequences.
The chorus concludes this tragedy by warning the Greeks that the only way to happiness is through humility and respect towards the gods. They also warn not to take anything for granted, or else suffer a fate like that of Oedipus. “Look, ye who dwell in Thebes. This man was Oedipus. That mighty king, who knew the riddle’s mystery, whom the entire city envied, fortune’s favorite. Behold, in the event, the storm of his calamities, and, being mortal, think on that last day of death, which all must see, and speak of no man’s happiness till, without sorrow, he hath passed the goal of life. ”
