Oedipus Rex
In Sophocles's play "Oedipus Rex" Oedipus Even though "fate" seems to determine Oedipus' life, he does infact have a free will. His choices brought the prophecy to life. Only his decisions (not influenced by anybody) he made. Of course those decisions were in side of the limits set by fate. When Oedipus heard a prophesy that his going to kill his father and sleep with his mother he ran away, even when he new there were suspicions of him being the real son of his parents. There some lines from the play: "...There was a man dining with us one day who had too much wine and man shouted at me-half drunk and shouting that I was not rightly called my father's son. ... Without my parent's knowledge, I went to Delphi, but Apollo did not say what I had gone to hear. Instead, he answered questions I had not asked and told of horror and misery beyond believe - how I would know my mothers bad ... and cause the death of my own father." The prophecy drove the Oedipus away from home; the terror of the predictions was too much to live with. Oedipus tried everything not to meet the prophecy, and still when he came to Thebes and became a king Oedipus married an older lady. It was his choice, even when he knew there was a danger of him to
For God's sake, if you know, don't turn away from us! We are pleading. Oedipus gained the rule of Thebes by answering the riddle of Sphinx. This riddle is a metaphor for the life of Oedipus. So is it worth living an examined life? Socrates had made this statement long after the creation of the Theban Trilogy. The sphinx's riddle was used by Sophocles to characterize Oedipus as a tragic man and as a parallel to his life. Would Oedipus have been better off if he was blind to the knowledge of his birthing and the fate which was foretold to someday befall him? Truly though, his life would have been a far better and easier path had he never known about his true origins. He ventured out to Delphi, to pry knowledge of his background out of it, and to discover if this was indeed the truth, despite the fact that his adopted parents of Corinth had assured him of it falseness. He does not give up his search even when Jocasta warns him to stop and let the matter rest. Also, if Oedipus had not had been as coarageous he would have have never ventured to answer the riddle of the Sphinx. Oedipus was the weakest of his life at this point. Oedipus leaves Corinth, fulfilling the Socratic idea of the unexamined life.
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Acceptance Essays
