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Essay on Oedipus Rex
| Date: |
10-14-98 6:02pm |
| Subject: |
English |
| Word Count: |
1133 |
| Page Count: |
4.53 |
Oedipus Rex
Oedipus Rex
In the play Oedipus Rex, it shows many different forms of fate and freewill. Fate is a word that
can be defined in many different ways. Fate can affect a person’s life in many different ways.
Oedipus’s fate ruined his life and lead him to a horrible death. Antigone’s life was also thrown
out to the hand of fate. Neither one of them had any freewill in there lifetime, all of there lives
were based upon the fate that the gods handed to them. Both of these elements, fate and freewill,
play a large role in the telling of the story of Oedipus Rex. Was his life really left to fate or was
it left up to him?
In most tragic plays fate and freewill play a large role in the rise and fall of the protagonist. The
protagonist in a play has to either cause the fault by his own freewill or by fate causing it.
Without this there would be no fall of the protagonist in a tragic play. Ignorance of a protagonist
can lead to a fall do to a mistake done by there own free will. Fate can cause the fall of a
protagonist without there consent or there control. The fate of a protagonist leads to a much
more horrible conclusion then the mistake of a tragic protagonist do to there own freewill.
Oedipus was born with a horrible prophecy told to his parents which led his parents to believe
that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother. They soon had Oedipus taken up to a
mountain, to leave him there to die. A shepherd saved his life and raised him, Oedipus soon went
back to Thebes were he was born. Oedipus believed that he was traveling away from his home
town, he soon found himself at a road where three corners met. There he murdered his father
without knowing it was his father. He soon then traveled to Thebes and then he married his own
mother. Soon Oedipus found out what he had done. His mother committed suicide and Oedipus
Tore out his own eyes and insisted on being banished from Thebes.
Oedipus led the exact life that was prophesied, Oedipus had little choices to make in his life. I
believe that most of the events that happened to Oedipus were left to the hand of fate. Oedipus
was trying to escape his own fate by traveling a different way then what he had thought was his
hometown. Fate is something that no human being can run from, no matter what they do or
where they hide. This was a choice that Oedipus made, which added to the answer of what
Oedipus’s character flaw was. Oedipus’s character flaw was that he was ignorant throughout his
life, he never saw things as what they really were, he only saw them as how he wanted to see
them.
Fate is a element in life that can not be changed or be foretold. Oedipus had no way of changing
his own fate or anyway from running from it. People cannot change there fate, as much as they
think that they can. People, along with Oedipus believe that they can control there lives and that
fate plays no role in there lives. But people do not understand that control is an illusion and is
nothing more then something for people to believe in so that they do not feel scared, while living
in this world that is based upon fate. People will always think that they control there lives even
no they do not. Freewill is also an illusion that is put out by society, people believe that society
gives them choices but really everybody’s life is set up and is up to fate.
The two conventions fate and freewill are not equal conventions in a tragic play. Fate
predominates freewill because fate controls freewill in life. In the story Oedipus Rex, Oedipus is
doomed to his fate, he tries to escape by using his own freewill but in the end he faces his fate.
There was no way for Oedipus to escape his fate that was told to his parents.
Oedipus led a very terrifying life but the hand of fate allowed Oedipus to die in peace. “How
Oedipus has passed away no man shall ever tell”. A related factor to fate is luck and fortune,
Oedipus was handed a bad fate but luck brought him a nice and peaceful death. Fate is what tells
a man how he is going to live his life and how everything in his life is going to happen. Fate can
either be on a person’s side or against a person’s side. Luck is what can weight fate towards a
person or against a person. Oedipus was very lucky that his death was peaceful, after his long
and terrible life of pain and suffering. Luck and fortune will always change fate towards better or
worse. A example of luck being used to change a man’s fate. When a person gambles fate could
say that he will lose but if the man has luck he might just win. This is what people call odds, but
really it is fate and the fate that is handed to that person.
The fate of a man wither it is in a tragic play or in real life will never be predicted of stopped in
anyway. People still live out there lives thinking that they control there every move that is made
next. People only think that or is it true, there is no way to really answer that it is really what
ever somebody wants to believe in. Fate and freewill will always be there in the minds of the
people who want to believe in them. If a person believes that nothing controls them in life then
that is what is true to that person. Many people become very angered at what they believe to be
called fate. The real question to people who believe in fate is that what is the point of living your
life when somebody already as set it down for you and you are just playing out a story. How is a
person suppose to live there life always thinking that what they just did was suppose to happen
and that they did not cause it by three own free will. Fate and freewill are mysterious of life that
may never be solved.
The conventions fate and freewill will always be needed to complete a tragic story, along with
being needed for a tragic people will always have these conventions controlling there lives.
These are very important aspects to ancient Greek Tragedies. Without these conventions in
Greek Tragedies there would be no suspense or action to build up to the climax. These same
reasons apply to fate and freewill in life, without these to aspects to bring people challenges and
obstacles what would be the reason for living life. Due to all of this that is the reason why for
many years to come people will always wonder wither they control there lives or if they are just
living a already told story.
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