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    CC2 Dona Gomes

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    CC2 Dona Gomes

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    CC2 Dona Gomes

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    Name – Dona Gomes

    Semester – I

    College Roll No – ENGA21F370

    CU Roll No – Pending

    Registration No - Pending

    Department - English

    Topic – Role Of Fate In Oedipus The King

    Project – CC2
    Acknowledgement
    First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our respected Professor

    Shanta Pal for the continuous support while completing the project. Her guidance helped me

    in all the time of research and writing for this project.

    Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for all the support and encouragement

    while doing the project. I would also like to thank my fellow mates for many helpful

    discussions and good ideas along the way. This project really helped me in increasing my

    knowledge on The Role of Fate in Oedipus the King.


    CONTENTS:
    ROLE OF FATE IN

    OEDIPUS THE KING

    BIBLIOGRAPHY
    ROLE OF FATE IN OEDIPUS THE

    KING

    In the Greek tragedy Oedipus the King written by Sophocles, the antagonist is fate. The
    theme of fate is deeply intertwined in the plot. In this play, all meet their fate despite

    attempting to escape it. Two characters bring about a fate worse than their original fate as

    punishment for trying to cheat fate.

    The first instance-involving fate occurs when Oedipus sends Creon, Jocasta’s brother, to the

    temple of Apollo, the god of prophecy and healing, to find the fate of Thebes and how to rid

    Thebes of the plague the people are suffering from.

    It is important to note that Apollo made the prophecy to King Laius, Jocasta’s former

    husband, and Jocasta, Oedipus’s wife, that they would bear a son who would kill King Laius,

    and Apollo made the prophecy to Oedipus that he would kill his biological father and sleep

    with his biological mother.


    Fate is next brought into the play when Creon is sent in search of the blind prophet of Apollo,

    Tiresias. Against his will, Tiresias reveals Oedipus’ fate. Oedipus is so anxious to find the

    murderer of King Laius that he will not give up until the murderer is found. Oedipus

    relentlessly pursues the truth, unwilling to give up until the truth is found.

    After Oedipus repeatedly provokes Tiresias, he reveals what Oedipus is and who Oedipus

    really is. Tiresias is alluding to the fact that Oedipus unknowingly is married to his mother

    and has produced offspring through her. Oedipus is too blind to comprehend what Tiresias is

    saying. Tiresias goes on to say, “I pity you, flinging at me the very insults, each man here will

    fling at you so soon”. Tiresias is warning Oedipus that everything he thinks he has is not

    really his. People will turn against Oedipus and he will lose everything. Oedipus blasphemes

    against the gods when he tells Tiresias that he does not have the gift of prophecy. This is

    blasphemy because Tiresias is the messenger between gods and humans, and when Oedipus

    calls him a liar, he is denying the words of the gods.

    Upon further provocations, Tiresias tells Oedipus that Oedipus does not know where he is

    living or who his parents are. Tiresias insinuates that Oedipus is both father and sibling to his

    children when he says, “And a crowd of other horrors you’d never dream, will level you with

    yourself and all your children”. Next Tiresias predicts, “This day will bring your birth and

    your destruction”.

    In his final speech towards Oedipus, Tiresias tells Oedipus that he is the murderer. Tiresias

    further tells Oedipus that though he is a stranger to Thebes, he will soon discover that he is a

    native Theban. Oedipus will also discover that he is both father and brother to his children,

    and both son and husband to his wife. Tiresias aptly foretells that Oedipus will lose

    everything; that Oedipus will be blind and exiled.


    After first arguing with Tiresias and then Creon, Oedipus talks to Jocasta, bringing about our

    third example of fate as an antagonist. Upon learning what the argument was about Jocasta

    relays that an oracle had come to King Laius and told him that he would “die a victim at the

    hands of his own son”. The king had pierced the infant’s ankles and sent him to die, and

    besides King Laius was killed by highwayman. Jocasta argues that Oedipus should not fear

    prophecy.

    Jocasta should have known that she could not outwit the gods, or fate.

    Fate next comes into play when Oedipus, who has begun to think he is King Laius’ killer,

    recounts the dinner where the drunken man accused Oedipus of being a bastard. Oedipus

    goes to the oracle at Delphi to find his destiny. After hearing the oracle’s prediction, Oedipus

    flees Corinth to protect Merope and Polybus and to escape his destiny, which gives us our

    fifth instance of fate.


    The change in the curse was brought about by Jocasta, who feared the oracle’s prophecy.

    Jocasta sent the infant, Oedipus, to his death. In doing this Jocasta was attempting to cheat

    fate. Jocasta thought that if she killed the baby, she could change her husband’s destiny. The

    added prophecy that Oedipus would lie with his mother and produce cursed offspring is a

    result of Jocasta’s attempt to cheat fate. Oedipus is really an innocent victim of fate.

    Again, fate is seen when the messenger brings news that Polybus has died a natural death.

    Both Oedipus and Jocasta rejoice briefly in this news for it further proves that oracles are

    wrong Yet, Oedipus still has fear of prophecy for he will not return to Corinth as long as

    Merope is alive, for fear that he will lay with her. The messenger tells Oedipus that Merope is

    not Oedipus’ true mother, as he himself gave Oedipus to her and to Pelops as a gift. It is a

    strange twist of fate this messenger both took Oedipus to Corinth, but also is one of the final

    puzzle pieces in Oedipus’ true identity.

    When the shepherd arrives on the scene, he is forced by Oedipus to verify that Oedipus is the

    child of Jocasta and King Laius. Oedipus is now forced to realize that he has not escaped his

    fate. The entire prophecy has been fulfilled. After finding Jocasta’s body, “And there we saw

    the woman hanging by the neck, Oedipus rips off her brooches holding her ropes and lifting

    them high, looking straight up into the points, he digs them down the sockets of his eyes,

    crying”. In the end of the play Oedipus is blind, ruined, and exiled just as Tiresias foretold

    him.
    Fate came out victorious in the end. In the Greek vision Fate cannot be altered or cheated.

    Even the gods cannot change Fate. Instead of claiming one victim, many were ruined. If

    Jocasta had not tried to cheat fate, perhaps King Laius would be the only death. Instead, King

    Laius and Jocasta are both dead, Oedipus is ruined and his children are cursed by this

    incestuous pollution. Fate is a force not to be reckoned with.


    Bibliography
    https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-literature/fate-in-oedipus-the-king-english-

    literature-essay.php

    Last accessed on – 12.12.21.

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