Fate and Free Will in Classic Tragedies
Arguello !1
Toby Arguello
Forms of Drama
Carol Rocamora
October 19 2014
!
One of the greatest philosophical and scholarly debates since the age of Enlightenment is the argument over whether human free will actually exists, or is it just an optimistic illusion. This deliberation has been the subject and driving force of multiple tragedies, perhaps most famously
Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth. These timeless classics placed literary recognition and relevance to the conflict between fate and free will, and have inspired countless works of drama, especially tragedies, since their original creation; Arthur
Miller in particular focused on this paradox of destiny in his renowned plays Death of a
Salesman and The Crucible. In all of these plays, from the ancient to the present, none makes a definite, straightforward analysis of fate versus free will; they are united in their lack of unity. All of the works present a tragic situation that reflects and ponder the question of fate, yet all refuse to resort to an explicit answer for it is much too complex a concept to be deserving of an easy and clear-cut solution.
Oedipus Rex and Macbeth are the archetypical works when regarding the question of fate versus free will, as they both present tragic heroes who are crucially influenced by prophecies.
The two plays have very similar introductions for their heroes, both being lavishly praised for their actions that have helped the general integrity of their homeland. In the opening scene of
Oedipus Rex, a priest of Zeus turns to Oedipus when the city of Thebes is suffering from a
Arguello !2 terrible plague; the priest tells the king that “It was by your own/wit and strength” that the destructive sphinx was defeated1. In the beginning of Macbeth, after King Duncan receives a report that Macbeth brutally executed a traitor in battle, the king cries “O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!”2. This introductions serve to set up these men as heroes,
Toby Arguello
Forms of Drama
Carol Rocamora
October 19 2014
!
One of the greatest philosophical and scholarly debates since the age of Enlightenment is the argument over whether human free will actually exists, or is it just an optimistic illusion. This deliberation has been the subject and driving force of multiple tragedies, perhaps most famously
Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth. These timeless classics placed literary recognition and relevance to the conflict between fate and free will, and have inspired countless works of drama, especially tragedies, since their original creation; Arthur
Miller in particular focused on this paradox of destiny in his renowned plays Death of a
Salesman and The Crucible. In all of these plays, from the ancient to the present, none makes a definite, straightforward analysis of fate versus free will; they are united in their lack of unity. All of the works present a tragic situation that reflects and ponder the question of fate, yet all refuse to resort to an explicit answer for it is much too complex a concept to be deserving of an easy and clear-cut solution.
Oedipus Rex and Macbeth are the archetypical works when regarding the question of fate versus free will, as they both present tragic heroes who are crucially influenced by prophecies.
The two plays have very similar introductions for their heroes, both being lavishly praised for their actions that have helped the general integrity of their homeland. In the opening scene of
Oedipus Rex, a priest of Zeus turns to Oedipus when the city of Thebes is suffering from a
Arguello !2 terrible plague; the priest tells the king that “It was by your own/wit and strength” that the destructive sphinx was defeated1. In the beginning of Macbeth, after King Duncan receives a report that Macbeth brutally executed a traitor in battle, the king cries “O valiant cousin! Worthy gentleman!”2. This introductions serve to set up these men as heroes,