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Delphi. King Laius feared the Oracle's announcement and had his son, the one and only Oedipus, abandoned on a mountain with spikes as nails through his ankles so that he would remain there to eventually die (Sophocles). And yet, his attempt to obstruct fate was a failure, because a shepherd happened to come upon the young Oedipus and released him from death. The shepherd then gave the young boy to a nearby king who raised him as his own, and consequently named him Oedipus, which meant "swollen feet" (Parada). Upon Oedipus' rising to manhood, the Oracle at Delphi once again told its prophecy, this time, with the prediction that Oedipus shall kill his father, whom he thought was the king that had raised him as his own, and marry his mother (Sophocles). Oedipus, like Laius, was frightened of such a terrible fate, and became determined to leave his land and never return, so that the prophecy may not be fulfilled. Oedipus tried to travel as far away from home as he possibly could, and along his journey, he crossed paths with a man who infuriated him with his rudeness (Sophocles). Oedipus killed the man without the knowledge that that man was indeed his father Laius and ultimately, half of the prophecy had been fulfilled.
When he came to Thebes, the remaining portion of the prophecy was fulfilled, as he became the champion of the city with his sending away the Sphinx, and winning the hand of his own mother Jocasta in marriage (Sophocles). Together they had four children, and Oedipus' awful fate had been fulfilled, all without his knowledge (Parada). The Plays begin with a plague that destructs the city of Thebes, and Oedipus sets out to find the cause. At length, he discovers that he himself is the cause; he was guilty of both murder
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and incest. When he realizes this, the utter shock and disgust of the horrific situation causes Oedipus to blind himself with the pins from Jocasta’s dress (Sophocles).
According to some people, this was the retribution he paid for his crime,
but others would argue that Oedipus had no choice in the matter and simply had
fulfilled his destiny (Nagle). The later argument seems to be more convincing because Oedipus does not consciously know of what he was doing at the time, meaning his crime was not entirely premeditated. A person cannot criticize ignorance no more than someone can sensibly attack good intentions (Nortwick). Oedipus was both truly unaware of what he had done and had no desire to harm whom he had thought to be his parents.
In the aspect of ignorance, Oedipus purely lacked a consciousness of his actions. The senses are what pull people to make the choices they do. At times, they can narrow the true inhibitions of humans, as they tend to alter the decisions that humans make and pull them from doing what they truly want (Parada). Oedipus sensed from the Oracle that he was to commit a grave sin and thus went against his inherent desire to remain with his parents. Oedipus and Laius both had a fear of their fate, and they acted in accordance to their sense of fear, so they did not have free will (Nortwick).
In consideration of good intentions, Oedipus meant well in his leaving his country and defeating the Sphinx; but as it turned out, in his departure he killed his father, and in his conquest of the Sphinx he won Jocasta's hand (Sophocles). In fact, it seems as if he
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was, "in the wrong place at the wrong time," because obviously, had he known that the man he was about to kill was his father, and the woman he was about to marry was his mother, the events that followed would most likely never have taken place (Nagle). With this in mind, free will in Oedipus' case is altogether unlikely, as he would have never willed to commit those crimes (Nortwick). Determinism again shows with proof that someone cannot run from nor prevent fate. If someone can imagine the unbelievable agony and fear that consumed Oedipus upon his hearing of his own fate, of how he was to kill his own beloved father and have children with the very woman that had him, perhaps the sin of running from fate may seem somewhat understandable. His fate was not one that can either be swallowed or simply pushed aside.
This is the reason why he ran from fate. But ultimately his attempt was a disastrous one, and he suffered severe consequences. His town suffered the
punishment for his physical crime, and he himself was the embodied sufferer for
the spiritual crime (Parada). Determinism maintains that Oedipus should not have attempted to outwit them because he could not. He went against the gods because he willed his own end and the means by which to achieve it (Nortwick). His suffering is a sign to any person who would try to do things beyond his own means because he is doomed to fail in the attempt and will consequently suffer some type of repercussion for it. The question is whether or not a life of freedom is worth the risk, and most people answer this as "no." Oedipus, unlike most people, answered "yes", and because of that his escape failed, he suffered much more greatly than most people (Nortwick).
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Works Cited
Nagle, Brendan D. The Ancient World: A Cultural and Social History. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1979.
Nortwick, Thomas. Oedipus: The Meaning of Fate and Free-Will. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.
Parada, Carlos. Oedipus. Maicar Förlag, 1997. Greek Mythology Link. Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology Biographies, 1997. Web. 2 Dec. 2009. <www.maicar.com/GML/Biographies.html>
Sophocles. "Oedipus the King" The Three Theben Plays Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1991.
