Oedipus the King Essay

In Oedipus, the King, the role of fate is vital as it helps in shaping the characters of the play from the start since it befalls on every character who is portrayed in the narration. This is because, in ancient Greece, there was an acknowledgment of fate as the gods’ will and an outside reality of an individual which determined and shaped the life of humans. It was understood that whenever a series of events were prophesied upon the life of a person, then the choice of the individual and the free will would obviously lead inescapably towards the predicted destiny, an idea which defined fate as the last say. Given this, the concept of fate is present in the play Oedipus the King as the biological parents of Oedipus; Jocasta and Laius attempt to avoid the cruel hand of fate by trying to leave their newborn son to die on a mountainside and also Oedipus is seen to attempt avoiding the same fate when he leaves home where he was raised. Despite the trying efforts of changing their destined fates and avoiding Tiresias prophecy, the inevitable still happened, making the prophecy transpire in the play. For this reason, in regard to Oedipus the King, I will show that human beings are presented as prisoners of fate given that the characters’ attempts to avoid destiny were pointless due to the insight that no matter what fate will always catch up with us wherever we are. Therefore, in the discussion below, I am going to argue in line with the topic that human beings were presented as prisoners of fate in Oedipus the King by using the fate of some characters, including Oedipus, Jacosta, Creon, and Antigone.

To begin with, in Oedipus the King, human beings are presented as prisoners of fate through the role of Oedipus in which the prophecy of Tiresias stated that he would perform the killing of his father and later on get into marriage with his mother. In an effort to avoid the fate, the parents decided to kill the infant son by giving him to one of the Thebes shepherds for killing and here, the action of fate occurred as the shepherd had mercy and gave the baby to the infertile King Polybius of Corinth (Sain, 2016). On growing to adulthood, fate depicts itself by proving the prophecy true when a drunker told Oedipus that he was adopted and on seeking reality from god Apollo, he was told that he would kill his parents. As observed, fate is clearly encircling him as he decides through curiosity to leave the home he grew at an initial step he unconsciously takes towards avoiding his fate of killing the foster parents. Ironically, while on his way to seek the biological parents, he meets his father unknowingly and kills him together with the other people accompanying him without even getting wounded (Sain, 2016). Coincidentally, this is again fate’s power-saving his life for the second time, thus fulfilling part of the prophecy without him knowing. At this point, fate is the only thing that is deciding the steps he is taking as he heads towards Thebes.

On another occasion, the argument that human beings are presented as prisoners of fate is noticeably revealed when among the numerous wise people, Oedipus was chosen to answer Sphinx’s riddle. Similarly, fate played its trick when Oedipus provide the solution of the riddle. For this reason, he saved the Thebes by making the marriage of Jacosta possible. Undeniably, Oedipus became fate’s dancing doll as the prophecy turned to be true when the people of Thebes awarded him with Laius ex-wife his mother as a wife. Correspondingly, fate clearly involves itself when Jacosta was not able to deny the marriage, and given that she had an awareness of the prophecy, she chose to remain silent (Sain, 2016). Irrefutably, it can be noted that Oedipus had no choice of escaping from his fate as each step he made actually led him towards his destiny, which was pre-decided. In light of this, it is manifest that there is total winning for destiny, and it is proved that there is no man who can deny his suffering and sorrow as it is plain that the powerless efforts of Oedipus escaping fate have failed, giving fate the victory.

Moreover, the role of Creon adheres to supporting the argument that human beings are presented as prisoners of fate in Oedipus the King when his pronounced fate involved being destined with loneliness. By getting himself wrapped up in power trappings, his fate starts to develop when he puts the responsibility he was assigned to Thebes above the gods’ laws assuming the position with arrogance and deciding to abide by the law. In the manner, Creon refuses the agreement of giving Polyneice a funeral, which is noble by declaring the abandonment of his body to be consumed by dogs. Further, he went ahead to bury Antigone alive with the claim that she had defied the law of burying Polyneice. However, it was until fate exercised its action as prophet Tiresias plead with him that he resolved to apologize and even wanting to rescue Antigone. As a result, the late attempts of Creon trying to avoid his fate only reveals his inescapable fate, being destined with loneliness as the gods decided to initiate destruction upon him due to ing a disrespectful burial for Polyneice leading to his wife and son committing suicide. Indeed, this proves the imprisonment of human beings to fate as he was left a miserable and lonely man.

Furthermore, Antigone’s case concurs with human beings being presented as prisoners of fate in Oedipus the King as her role of having a fate to live up to proves true. The development of her fate is portrayed when she engages in a discussion concerning the burying of the body of Polyneice, her brother. Accordingly, the conversation involves the consequences of the burial, which has been illegalized together with the reasons as to why it poses necessity. In this light, the involvement of fate was made manifest as she chose to burying her brother’s body and later endure facing the consequences. Given this, it is unquestionable that Antigone has a complete understanding of her fate, thus accepting it. This is because she believes in following her set fate, which is destined by the gods as more critical rather than adhering to the laws which are set by a king. Subsequently, she buries her brother, and afterward, she was taken to Creon, where she submissively admitted her crime. Undoubtedly, her acceptance for death as a punishment is an evident recognition of fate as a significant part of the life of Antigone, which she was destined to.

In summary, considering ancient Greece, the role of fate was major in influencing some works, including this of Sophocles. As fate is unchangeable and pre-determined, human beings cannot deny it, but instead, they have to agree with it hence presenting them as prisoners. Considering the fate of Oedipus, which had already been written, there is no way he could have escaped or denied it due to his curiosity. Equally to Jacosta, Creon and Antigone, it is clear to human beings that when there is pre-dominance of fate all things including nature, the man himself, our insensibilities, and incidents can unconsciously or consciously support it thus helping fate to become real.