Defying the Inevitable
Around twenty-five hundred years ago in ancient Greece, the criterion for a tradegy was defined by the philosopher Aristotle as a play that concludes with a release of pity and terror. The audience would pity the tragic fate of the protagonist and fear that they might suffer a disaster themselves. Likewise, the playwright had to hold his audience's attention by creating suspense throught the play. One of the greatest tradegians of all time, Sophocles wrote the play Oedipus the King in which Oedipus is prophesied to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus is pitied because he is a decent man, simply searching for the murderer of his predecessor, the King of Thebes. He does not know he killed his father on his way from the temple of Delphi, and his wife, the queen, is actually his mother. At some points in the play, Oedipus seems to have figured out his true parentage, and at other times he is completely ignorant. Furthermore, Sophocles creates more suspense with the clashing ideas of free will and fatalism; did Oedipus choose his own destruction or was he merely a puppet of fate? Free will is the belief one can control his own fate while fatalism is the belief all events are inevitable. Although Sophocles uses charac
Jocasta thinks she is right again, that another prophecy was proved false and says, "It's all chance, chance rules our lives. " She does not doubt the gods' power but thinks precautions can be taken to prevent a prophecy from being fulfilled. Oedipus was a victim of fate, but he was not a puppet because he sought his doom after being warned many time not to pursue it. Sophocles end this tragic tale by warning us not to doubt fate nor take anything for granted for fear we suffer like Oedipus. Tiresias knows all events are predetermined and everything one tries to do to avoid the inevitable is futile. It's better that way, please believe me. "Tiresias makes another prophecy to prove he is truly a seer of Apollo. Revealed at last, brother and father both to the children he embraces, to his mother son and husband both- he sowed the loins his father sowed, he spilled his father's blood! And if you find I've lied this day onward call the prophet blind. Tiresias, the seer of Delphi, knows all events are determined by fate. Not a man on earth can see a day ahead, groping through the dark. She commits suicide, showing that she made her final decision and did not leave it up to her destiny. Jocata, the mother and wife of Oedipus, continually supports the idea of free will in everything she says or does. Even after Jocasta realizes Oedipus is truly her son, she makes her last argument for free will.
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,
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Acceptance Essays
