Cover Letter 1st Draft
In this essay I was trying to prove that free will doesn’t actually exist and that predestined fate does. The central thesis that I arrived at was that the author was conveying a similar message by showing us that fate cannot be escaped no matter how hard you try to do so, and I managed to make that point around the end of my essay mostly towards the 3rd paragraph and the conclusion.
To make this point I went from pointing out moments in the tragedy where fate was present to then seeing how fate was used as a tool to create dramatic irony, then I focused on the point that we realize that fate can’t be avoided because of the events from the story, they try to do just that and still end up fulfilling the prophecies, which strengthens the argument. In my revision I think I can develop my point better and earlier on instead of waiting until the 3rd paragraph to divulge all this information pertaining to my argument.
Moctar Diarra
Professor Peer
English 2800
28 November 2017
Fate, Inevitable?
Oedipus The King or Oedipus Rex, is a Greek tragedy by Sophocles from 400 BC, that leaves its audience polarized for a multitude of reasons, one being the fact that it tackles divisive taboos such as incest, murder and patricide. But one topic that also brings about heavy debate is fate. Fate is the underlying topic of this tragedy, it is what makes our main protagonist, Oedipus, leave his land, become king of a foreign one, and die as he ultimately becomes the bane of his people. So, the question that arises from this tragedy is, was Oedipus a victim of his fate or his own mistakes? With the story showing Oedipus unknowingly heading down the path of his fate whether he aimed to or not, we can argue that Sophocles, used fate as a point of suspense to focus on the fact that it is inescapable. To prove this statement, we will first discuss the moments in the play where fate rears its stubborn head, then we will look at how it is used to create suspense thanks to the dramatic irony (Their denial Our knowledge), and we’ll finish by focusing on its inescapability thanks to the tragic plot.
Fate itself is a recurring theme throughout the rhetoric of this tragedy. Playing a huge role at the forefront of the most critical scenes, we notice fate’s importance, being a term usually linked to the gods and transmitted by Oracles, who translated and conveyed it through prophecies chosen by the Olympians. There are multiple major instances in the play where prophecies concerning the fate of our main character, Oedipus, create key turning points, such as the very beginning when Kreon, his brother in law, returns with news of how to rid the city of its plague:
“Then I’ll report what I heard from Apollo. He made his meaning very clear. He commands we drive out what corrupts us, what sickens our city. We now harbor something incurable. He says purge it. […] By banishing a man or killing him. It’s blood- kin murder that brings this storm on our city”. [ p 710 l.106-l.114]
This quote is the earliest appearance of fate in the play, and it is a mysterious one at that. Kreon, arrives from his trip seeing the Oracle at Delphi at Oedipus’ request with news straight from the god Apollo. He explains that the source of the curse on the city is the fact that the murderer of their king is amongst them, and the only solution is to have this person banished or killed. This prophecy already proves to be an instance where fate pops up and it is mysterious because we are announced the fate of a person whose identity has not yet been unveiled in the story, officially. Another example of Fate appearing is the same Oracle of Delphi warning both Laius and Oedipus, on two separate occasions, that Oedipus would murder his father:“ A long time back, an oracle reached Laios- I don’t say Apollo himself sent it, but the priests who interpret him did. It said that Laios was destined to die at the hands of a son born to him and me.” [P.726 L.826-830] This Quote definitely displays the fate of Laios as he was warned that his son, Oedipus would kill him, which ended up being the case. Even though Jokasta tells Oedipus this fact as a way to get him to stop searching for more answers, it actually has the opposite effect on him, propelling him on a search for the truth instead of constantly doubting Oracles like he had done up to this point.
Oedipus constantly doubts fate throughout the text, to his detriment, but we, the readers, having all the contextual evidence available to us, know the truth. This information gap sets the tone, suspense wise in the story. This information gap, also known as dramatic irony, is key for the reader to be enthralled. A passage where this is the case is when Oedipus cites his own fate unknowingly: “If any one of you knows how Laios, son of Labdakos, died, he must tell me all that he knows. He should not be afraid to name the guilty one: I swear he’ll face nothing worse than an exile.” [P.714 l. 272-277] This quote is a proper example of dramatic irony, and is what keeps us wanting to know what happens next. This is the case because we are aware that he is unveiling his own fate in this monologue, but he still believes that someone in his land who has killed Laios is hiding from him. We know that Oedipus killed his father, we know that he is laying with his mother, and we know that this is a tragedy, so where does the suspense originate from? The Suspense arises from the circumstance that none of the above is known to him, and since we are aware of what is happening we can foresee the outcome. We stay to catch the moment where it all becomes clear to Oedipus that this whole time, the Oracles were all right and that his fate was sealed long ago. But to discuss this moment where Oedipus’ vision is ironically no longer blurred we must first ask ourselves, if free will exists, could anything have been done to thwart his fate anyways?
From the beginning of this tragedy, it seemed like Oedipus could have had a moment of clarity at any time to stop a tragedy from happening, but this was not the case. As we read on, his grave kept being dug as we found out more and more about what had occurred. For one, the actions taken throughout this play to dodge fate, proved to be futile, in the long run nothing ended up stopping what was supposed to happen from transpiring. The best case to prove this is towards the end of the play where Oedipus learns all this information about his life from which negates everything he thought was real:
“She gave the child to you? She gave him, King. To do what? I was to let it die. Kill her own Child? She feared Prophecies. What Prophecies? That this child would kill his father. Why, then, did you give him to this old man? Out of pity, master. I hoped this man would take him back to his own land. But that man saved him for this- the worst grief of all. If the child he speaks of is you, master, now you know: your birth has doomed you. […] You see now what I am the child who must not be born! I love where I must not love! I killed where I must not kill!” [p.737-738 l.1324-1342]
This is the moment we have been waiting on, Oedipus finally sees all that was in front of him this entire time, this is the moment of recognition. In this long text he learns that everything he believed has been a lie from the get go. Oedipus wasn’t truly a member of the royal family in Corinth, but the child of his current wife/mother who was sent away to die, originally, in order to avoid the fulfillment of the prophecies of Oedipus committing the 2 atrocious sins of Incest and Patricide. This is not only a revelatory moment for him because he learned all of these things but this scene also solidifies the word of the Oracles and by liaison fate. Oedipus tries denying his fate from the moment it is unveiled to him but can’t escape it, he even tries to change it earlier by leaving Corinth, thinking that leaving his “parents” would have him in the clear, but little did he know, fate cannot be changed. His father’s actions of sending him to be killed were also an attempt at avoiding what was written and a failed one at that, since he was murdered at a crossroads by his own son. Fate, here, can be depicted as a Main road where all the other roads eventually lead, no matter what you do it is impossible to venture off the path made for you.
To conclude, we analyzed some passages of the book where fate was discussed, then we analyzed the use of fate as a tool for suspense, relying on the dramatic irony to keep a tense aura around the tragedy for us the readers which culminated into a look at the moment of recognition, solidifying the role of fate in this whole debacle. Ultimately, we understand that Oedipus’ mistakes were part of his fate, because making those mistakes were part of accomplishing what was laid out for him. Anything he did to get away from his destiny would still lead him there sooner or later. We must also not forget that prophecies and fate were ruled by the gods for the people of this period, and a human being could not change what the gods had decided. So, the author’s message to us was, again, that our fate is inevitable as we are bound to it no matter how we decide to maneuver.