Example Of Essay On Oedipus Rex: The Power Of Free Will And The Propensity To Ignore The Truth

The story of Oedipus revolves around the theme of man challenging fate and seeking for ways to deny the truth. King Laius of Thebes is told through a prophesy that his son by the queen Jocasta will be the one to kill him. In order to save himself, Laius has his new born son, Oedipus, to be killed. However, Oedipus is given to the Corinthian king who raises the child as his own. Oedipus grows up ignorant of his true lineage and, through a series of events triggered by his own nature and actions, eventually fulfils the prophesies he sought to negate. The elements of free will and the denial of truth by Oedipus are key to the progression and outcome of the story.
Oedipus became an outstanding man, renowned for his intelligence and his sincere concern for his people. It is also told that he was a devout man and a great ruler. However, he was not perfect and had several character faults. He was known to be swift to anger, prone to making hasty and often rash decisions and easily aggravated. The fame of his intellect imbibed him over-confidence. When Oedipus learns through an oracle that he is destined to kill his father and marry his own mother, he is revolted. He is too arrogant to acknowledge that his life is governed by Gods and that he needs their favor to save him from committing both, murder and incest. He believes that man makes his own destiny through his actions and refuses to believe the oracle’s prophecy will ever come true.
In order to prove this, he leaves his home and wandered till he reached Thebes. One the way, he is nearly killed by a speeding chariot. The driver of the chariot seems to be very rich man. Oedipus is so angered that he does not attempt to ask the man to identify himself. An argument pursues and results in a fight, with Oedipus killing the offender. Unknown to Oedipus, he had just killed Laius, King of Thebes and his biological father. Hence, due to his short tempered and rash nature, Oedipus fulfilled the first part of the prophecy. He speaks to no one about this incident and proceeds towards Thebes. Here, he solves the famous riddle of the Sphinx, delivering the Thebans from its scourge.
The Thebans rejoice and name him King of Thebes. On meeting Jocasta, he falls in love with her and marries her. This reveals his lack of caution. Oedipus is so blinded by his confidence that he fails to see that he is marrying a woman twice his age, a woman who could easily be his mother. Hence, unknowingly, in an attempt to prove that he is above fate, Oedipus fulfills the second part of the prophecy as well by marrying his biological mother. The reverence of his people further adds to his pride in his own abilities. He believes that he has defeated the designs of fate by his own will and efforts but the opposite, in fact, is true. As the years pass, his arrogance grows along with his prosperity and he soon forgets the prophecy that predicted his doom.
One day, the people of Thebes, led by a priest, complain to Oedipus that they have been inflicted with several plagues that have ruined their lives. The priest reveals that the Gods are angry with the Thebans as the murder of their previous King has been left uninvestigated, the murderer remaining unpunished. Oedipus swears to uncover the identity of the killer and rid the land of the plagues, unaware that he was sealing his own doom. His investigations into the murder is discouraged by Creon, his brother in law and good friend. However, Oedipus only ends up suspecting him of murdering Laius. So blinded is he in his quest for truth that when the soothsayer Teiresias warns him to let the investigation be, he condemns him.
In order to defend himself, Teiresias tells Oedipus that he was the one who had killed King Laius and goes on to repeat the original prophecy, that the killer had murdered his own father and had married his own mother. When the prophecy of his childhood returns to haunt him, Oedipus refuses to believe it again and in turn accuses Teiresias of treason. Hungering for truth and driven by his need to prove the prophesy wrong, he finds the shepherd who had witnessed him killing the man on the road. The hesitant reveals to him that he had, in fact, killed King Laius. He further goes on to reveal that it was he who had found Oedipus as an infant and brought him to the King of Corinth. The truth of his lineage is thus revealed to Oedipus who cannot now doubt that the prophecy was true and he was nothing but a puppet in the hands of destiny. Jocasta, on finding that she had married her own son, hangs herself and Oedipus punishes himself by gouging out his eyes with the pins of her robes.
It is often said that the tragic end of Oedipus and, in fact, his entire life, is an act played out by fate, that his downfall was destined and could not be prevented. I believe that Oedipus had the potential and will to be a great man and king however, his own character prevented him from achieving greatness and brought about his ultimate downfall. From the very beginning, when King Laius of Thebes orders Oedipus to be killed to prevent the prophecy from coming true, he actually set off the sequence of events that actually lead to the predicting coming true. However, if Laius had not acted to defeat fate, he would have saved himself, his wife as well as his son.
In conclusion, it can be said that it was Oedipus’ anger that led him to kill his father and his lack of caution that did not stop him from marrying Jocasta. It was his adamant nature and extreme self belief that led him to fulfill the prophecy part by part, not fate. The discovery of the truth was also entirely due to Oedipus’ heedless nature. If he had not pursued the investigation, he would have remained oblivious to the truth, even though the prophesy had been fulfilled, and continued to lead a prosperous life with Jocasta. Hence, it can be said that it was not fate that destroyed Oedipus but his own character faults and the choices he made of his own free will. Further, although Oedipus supposedly south the truth, he was, in fact, seeking ways to deny the truth that mattered the most – that he was destined to fulfill the prophesy.