Was Oedipus Doomed By Fate

The tragedy Oedipus Rex was about a plague plaguing Thebes and the only way to end it was to find the murder of King Liyus and to banish him. We learn later from the story that Tiresias the blind prophet proclaims that Oedipus is the murder. Oedipus doesn’t know he is the murder due to his complicated childhood of been a foster and growing up with his non- biological parents, even though he doesn’t know he was abandoned by his real parents. Due to the prophecy and fate of Oedipus, he will kill his real father and marry his mother. Oedipus later learns of this prophecy and tries to escape his fate because he loves his parents, but during a

The tragic fall of Oedipus in Sophocles play “Oedipus Rex” is both self-inflicted and result of events drawn from his own destiny. First off early on in Oedipus’ life his first deadly mistake towards succeeding his self-inflicted downfall was the murder of his father the former king. In a blind rage without any motive, he kills Liaus and his men at a rode crossing. Fate may have had led him to that point but it was his own rage that resulted in his biggest mistake. Further evidence of his self-inflicted downfall Oedipus’ was at the hands of his own ignorance. This ignorance combined with his stubborn, determined attitude does not allow him foresight. This foresight would have led

     From before Oedipus was born, he was doomed to kill his father and marry his mother, a very cursed fate. Throughout his life, the readers learn that Oedipus tries his hardest to avoid this dreadful proclamation; however, the gods were against him before he was even in his mother's womb, so Oedipus and the readers quickly learn that there would be no way for him to avoid

In Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Oedipus is responsible for the tragedy of his downfall. Oedipus is presented with a series of choices throughout the play, and his arrogant and stubborn nature push him to impulsively make the wrong decisions, the decisions that ultimately lead him to his downfall. While Oedipus and those around him consider "fate" the source of Oedipus' problems, Oedipus' decisions show the audience that it is he who is responsible.

The truth is that Oedipus was acting in self defense, as any man was bound to in the time frame the play is set. Oedipus was always meant to murder his father, and he did so unknowingly while protecting himself. Moving on, it is also suggested that Oedipus’ fatal flaw is his unshakeable pride, which is most notably showcased when he flees the kingdom of Corinth in order to find a loophole to the prophecy. Any morally correct person would try to avoid patricide and incest, and Oedipus had pure intentions fleeing Corinth, wishing to spare himself and his adoptive parents. All in all, Oedipus was innocent, and his demise was not caused by fatal flaws.

Throughout Oedipus the King, Oedipus seemed to believe that he could overcome the prophecy given to him by Apollo. However, the ending of the play suggests that Oedipus never had a chance to change his destiny; he was simply predestined by the gods to live out a life that would end with incredible physical and emotional trauma. This idea is supported by the fact that all of the major decisions made by characters within the play to try and avoid the prophecy all failed and ultimately helped fulfill the prophecy. Meanwhile, his personality flaws seemed to only hasten his demise. In the play, Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, Oedipus did not have a chance to live out a normal life, but instead was destined from birth to experience a painful life

In my opinion if Oedipus did not believe his parents in Corinth were his real parent why kill someone who is old enough to be your father. Why kill someone in general?

Sophocles suggests that fate can play a role in one's failure, however Oedipus is the one that brings about his own doom. While trying to figure out who killed Kking Laïos, Oedipus begins to realize that the evidence points to himself. “Where is a man more miserable than I?/More hated by the gods? Citizen and alien alike/Must never shelter or speak to me--/I must be shunned by all/And I myself/Pronounced this malediction upon myself!”(Sophocles 43).

Oedipus causes his own downfall through his arrogance. He thinks that Teiresias is falsely accusing him of murdering Laius when Teiresias says, “…you are the murderer whom you seek” (Sophocles 1264). Teiresias then tells Oedipus that the man who he seeks will be brother and father to his children and husband and son to his wife. Oedipus’s hubris is also a major cause of his downfall. Because he tries to escape what fate has in store for him, he ends up falling right into what was planned

Throughout history people try have tried to change the outcome of a situation by running away or avoiding their problems. Oedipus is no different, but by trying to run away from his problems, he only fulfills his destiny. even more. Nobodies fate it Everyone has an inescapable fate, a lesson taught by from Oedipus Rex. The play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles is about fate and reveals that it cannot be altered or avoided.

Oedipus was informed by an oracle that he would be the one to murder his father and marry his mother. It is important to know that Oedipus is a descendant of the first King of Thebes and because of this several of his relatives have met tragic deaths by taking unwarranted actions into their own hands. Before Oedipus was born his father Laius was told by the same oracle not to have any children by his wife Jocasta which he did anyway. This was not a situation that originated with Oedipus; it seems that this type of fate is destined to be intertwined in this family’s bloodline.

Oedipus was faced with several decisions in his life when he left his family, when he killed his father, when he exiled himself for killing his father; these decisions were hard for Oedipus to make. Killing a man that he didn’t even know was his father and finding out that it was made it even harder on him, because it was not his fate to kill his father and marry his mother. If his mother would have never sent him off his baby his life would be completely different and he would have never been I the position he was in. His life would have been Gods fate if Jocasta never sent him off, but since he was sent off his life became Free Will by the decisions he had to make for himself.

Oedipus’ intense amount of self confidence is so great that Oedipus actually curses whoever the killer is, this is an example of irony, because Oedipus later finds out that he was the killer all along, and that he ended up cursing himself. Another clue of this is a quote from Oedipus while he was talking to the prophet Teiresias, “Yea, I am wroth, and will not stint my words, But speak my whole mind. Thou methinks thou art he, Who planned the crime, aye, and performed it too, All save the assassination; and if thou Hadst not been blind, I had been sworn to boot That thou alone didst do the bloody deed.” (Sophocles 345-350). In this quote, Oedipus’ ego is once again affecting him, as he refuses to even consider what the prophet Teiresias is saying about not looking into who the murderer is, but Oedipus ironically does accuse him of being the killer. These quote help the reader realize that the mystery of Oedipus Rex for Oedipus is to discover who Laius’ killer

Oedipus was so determined to find the killer of King Laios. He was driven in the sense Laios didn’t have any kids, so he knew. The urge in Oedipus could have risen from him not knowing his own father, and how if it was his father he wouldn’t stop at anything to find the murder. Ironically, Oedipus was setting out to find himself, only at the time he didn’t know. Not only did fate come down at Laios, but fate the epitome of Oedipus’s life. Oedipus was left at birth, and he grew up to by his father’s killer and his mother’s husband. The life of Oedipus was described in that quote. He didn’t have a father, his life was ruled by fate, and his fight to find the killer was fate he would find out it was himself.

People make the assumption that Oedipus murdered his own father, however this is flawed. The play clearly states that this act was provoked; therefore, all he is guilty of is self-defense. Oedipus describes a wagon about to shove him off the road with "brute force", this angered him to strike the driver, and when the old male passenger (a stranger to Oedipus) tried to prong him in the head, he attacked him - this is far from being guilty of murder. This makes you think that Sophocles is writing it from the angle that Oedipus was innocent.