Fate In Sophocles Oedipus The King

People like to believe that they control their lives, that they determine their futures with the choices they make. In many pieces of Greek literature though, this comforting belief is continually shown to be false. A person’s fate is always predetermined, and can never be changed, no matter what the person does. This thematic pattern is prevalent in Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King, as well. Throughout the tragedy, Oedipus and his parents, Laius and Jocasta, fruitlessly strive to defy the king’s destiny, to alter his fate. Unfortunately, when they all finally realize that their efforts have failed to change any aspect of Oedipus’ prognosticated future, and that the prophecy has been fulfilled, their story comes to its dismal end. In order to evade the divination of
Before they even hear of the messenger’s tale, they first expose the truth behind the other half of the prophecy; Oedipus, son of Laius, was destined to eliminate his father. When Oedipus recalls, “the old man himself…brought his goad with two teeth full down upon my head. But he was paid with interest; by one swift blow from the staff in this hand he was…on his back. I slew every man of them,” (147), he reveals that he had killed a man who seemed to likely be Laius himself. This confession, combined with Jocasta’s elaboration of the journey Laius had been on when he was murdered, drag both her and Oedipus to an undeniable conclusion. The scenario Jocasta had described was frighteningly similar to Oedipus’ memory of slaying the strangers on the road. For a while, both of them were in denial, for they could not stand to consider that the prophecy had been fulfilled. However, after determining that Oedipus was in fact Laius and Jocasta’s son, they both could no longer remain in their fragile states of repudiation. Admitting defeat, they both acknowledge that the dreaded prophecy has been satisfied at