Tragedy of fate
As we finished reading the play “Oedipus the king” pretty much all the suspense end and we figured Oedipus was the killer of Laius. At the same time we know from the messenger that Polybus wasn’t Oedipus’s real father however that messenger found the baby Oedipus from the shepherd. Shepherd revealed Jocasta (Laius’s wife) once handed him a baby boy to leave in the mountain to die but he took pity and gave the boy to a messenger. At this point Oedipus realized that he was the murderer of his own father and married his own mother Jocasta.This part is the most turning parts of the drama and “Oedipus the king” is the perfect model of a tragedy in the sense that it demonstrates human suffering ,human’s weakness and powerlessness to control destiny.
Reader may have different reaction to Oedipus killing his father and marrying his mother.some reader may will blame Oedipus for what he did.As we see some of the character was blaming him . For example Jocasta committed suicide and the leader said, “ what god would you go to such inhuman lengths my eyes have ever touched?”(line 1475). Moreover Oedipus blames himself most hated person by God and took his eyes out to make himself blind.My question to the reader would be Was Oedipus really guilty for what he did ? How can we blame someone who didn’t do anything intentionally as no human has control over the destiny.Laios tried his best to change the destiny by killing his child as well as Oedipus ran away from Korinth as he knew he will kill his dad. But they couldn’t change the destiny.
At the very last part of the drama we see Oedipus was concern about his own daughters who probably going to live a miserable life because of their father’s deeds . he says,
“ I know the life that men will make you live.
what public gathering ,what festivals could you attend?None.
You will be sent home with tears,without your share of holy joy…
Who will marry you? No one ,my children.you will grow old unmarried ,
living a dried -up childless life”(line 1687-1701).
Here we see the complex relationship between destiny and human’s action. his daughters will not be allowed to go to festivals,gathering ,no one will want to marry them as it will be shame for them.But why his kids will be punished for his bad destiny/bad deeds? As god decided his destiny will be killing his father and marrying his mother so God saved his life my the messenger and bought him back to his born city to kill his dad and so on .It would not be fair for his child to be hated by people. Some reader may blame his proudness, stubbornness and wrathful temper as we see beginning of the play.Do any of these adequately justify his terrible destiny?
You cannot entirely blame Oedipus for all the wrong he has done. As you mentioned in the beginning of your post, there was no way to control this destiny. Although characters were warned that this event were to occur, Laios and Jokasta took the actions necessary to try to prevent the prophecy from fulfilling itself. Additionally, Oedipus kept himself far away from his “parents” to prevent himself from killing his “father” and marrying his “mother.” I believe the Messenger is truly at fault for this, as he had the power to prevent Oedipus from living. Instead, he made sure he did not die.
Although it is horrifying the tragedy that happened, I think Oedipus is not to blame. He was a victim of destiny, and destiny had chosen this life for him. Since Jokasta and Laios were warned of the possibility then it is also possible the Gods knew of this risk when they allowed the messenger to take the baby away from the shepherd. The Gods could have been aware that baby lived on. I don’t think the shepherd nor the messenger are to blame because they let the baby live, it was a noble thing to do for an innocent life. Yet I do think that the shepherd should have spoken the truth when he and Laios were attacked by Oedipus on the road. Perhaps if the shepherd had been honest then this tragedy could have been prevented because the truth would have revealed itself earlier, regarding Laios’ death. If the shepherd had stayed within the palace, he would have recognized Oedipus as the killer and told on him. Also, I do believe that if Oedipus had not been angered that Laios and his people were trying to push him aside from the road then the tragedy could have been prevented. Oedipus didn’t need to kill anyone, he could have simply moved aside to let the others pass by. Ultimately, it was destiny that brought Oedipus to his homeland for the tragedy that awaited.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on Oedipus The King. I agree with you that both Oedipus and his father “couldn’t change their destiny” and this a very important lesson from this tragedy. If we expand on your analysis of destiny already been been layout for each human live than the question becomes, how much free will do we have ? or if we have any ?. So the terrible things Oedipus, Jakasta and Laois did can be view as the limited free will human have because regardless of their actions they could not changed their destiny.