Oedipus Rex and Fate
Fate and its significance in the text.
The role of fate is often quite big in tragedy, and especially in Greek tragedy, where messages saying not to defy the gods appeared frequent;y. Thism is true for Oedipus Rex, a greek tragedy by Sophocles.
Oedipus, the protagonist, is told by the Oracle that he will kill his father sand marry his mother. Like any loving son would do, he runs away from home so that iut will be impossible form him to do the deed without returning. HWat Oedipus does not know is that he was adopted. A sheapard found him aqs an abandoned baby and gave it to the rulers Polybus and Merope, who raised him as their son. When he runs away from home, he roams the roads and chanches upoon his real father, Laius. Mistaking him and his groupo for robbers, Oerdipus kills them, trhuis fiulfilling the prophecy. Later, when he reaches Thebes and saves it from the Sphinx, he marries hid mmkother the QUeen, thus fiulfilling the prophecy.
Tis helps to make the characters into real, three-dimensional people to whom we can realte. ""To be human is to err."" We often try to fix things we have broken, but often thiungs are worse of than before as a result of our meddling. Pessimists would say that all throgun the ages, life has some shock for us. T%his means that nearly all of us would be able to relate to the prtagonist, Oedipus.
FDate also p,ay a role in the second part of the prophecy, that he would marry his mother. By answering the Sphinx's rfiddle, he ridded the city of Thebes of the monster and was made King and therefore married Jocasta, the QUeen and his real ,mother. This part was very important for the anciuent greek audiences. It shiows that evemn if you did something good, life saving a city, you copuld never defy the gods. Thgey know everything you have done and will do, indeed, they have planned it so. You can see that fate and the gids carried storng messages in those times. Lioke the Christian plays in the Middle Gaes, these tragedys served a role as relgios instruction.
While fate and the gods may not carry its relevance into the millenia, making a fatal mistake after having tried will affect almost anyone. This play has been enjoyed by millions opver the ages, and due to the master of Sophocles, will be enjoyed long into the future.
