Tuesday, February 18th, 2014...8:13 pm
Oedipus and fate
Oedipus the King is a tragedy written by Sophocles in the 5th century BC. The play treats issues that were controversial at the time, themes that still raise debate in the 21st century. The theme of destiny, defined as foreknowledge by the god, is opposed to the human freewill. Sophocles is challenging the traditional religious view that man is ignorant and knowledge belongs to god. However, in the end turns out that the only human freedom is in deciding whether or not to search the truth about yourself.
Discussion question: Do you think that Oedipus is a victim of the gods and his destiny was already set, or his free will contributed to his fate by searching the truth? How does Jocasta change his belief about destiny? What is your position?
1 Comment
February 22nd, 2014 at 12:27 am
I enjoyed the discussion of Oedipus. I thought the types of questions that were asked were well thought out and led to an interesting debate. I think the answer to this question is that both free will and destiny played a role in what happened to Oedipus; but not his own free will. Although the king did not have control over the chain of events, those around him did. It’s possible that if those who were informed about what was eventually going to play out had acted differently, then this would have been a very different story. That being said, this is not an easy yes or no question and whether you believe it happened because of fate, free will, or a little bit of both, there is always going to be a counter argument that adds doubt to previous ones. I think that’s part of what makes it such an interesting read.