"Fate" Throughout Sophocles's Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus
             The classical Greek writers have given the world major literary themes. One such theme is "Fate". According to Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language the word fate is defined as "the principal or determining cause or will by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as they do: destiny"(529). The Theme "Fate" is applicable to Oedipus and his lineage, in Sophecles's three Theban plays: Antigone, Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus.
             "Fate" plays a cruel role in the lives of everyone related to Oedipus. Not only was Oedipus's life condemned from the beginning, but the lives of his four children were also ill fated. The entire bloodline, beginning with Oedipus, met a tragic end or led a tragic life through no fault of their own. Thomas Gould explains, "sometimes it is suggested that Oedipus would not have avoided his misery by having been a better man, but he could have remained prosperous and happy if he had been a less good man" (Gould 51). If not for "Fate", the lives of Oedipus and his entire family could have been much better off.
             The whole debacle started with the birth of Oedipus. Oedipus was the only child of Laius and Jocasta, king and queen of Thebes. They took Oedipus to the oracle at Delphi to have his prophecy read. The oracle prophesized that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother, "... Why, Loxias declared that I should one day marry my own mother, And with my own hands shed my father's blood. Wherefore Corinth I have kept away far, for long years; and prospered; none the less it is most sweet to see one's parents' face..."(ll. 556-559, 187). In order to prevent this from happening, Laius and Jocasta pierced Oedipus's foot and ordered a shepherd to abandon him on a mo...