Oedipus: Fate vs. Free Will
Revealing the future to humans is one way the tragedy is fate’s fault. “One often meets his destiny on the path to avoid it” (Max Wippermann). If Jocasta and Laius had not known their fate there never would have abandoned Oedipus. If he had not been abandoned, Oedipus would have known his real parents and the prophecy would not have come true. But this was fate’s plan all along. After Oedipus went to Delphi to hear his fate, he started “running towards some place where [he] would never see the shame of all those oracles come true” (879-880). In Oedipus’ flight, he encountered Lauis and killed him. He then continued into Thebes to marry his mother. If Oedipus had never saw the oracle then he would have stayed in Corinth, but this was his destiny. Learning one’s fate causes them to follow the path towards it even more quickly than if they were oblivious to it.
Fate shapes the path of Oedipus’ life. The shepherd who was meant to have him killed “pitied the little baby” and “he saved him” (1301-1303). But by saving him from death he caused him to live...
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