"It lies not in our power to love or hate, for will in us is over-ruled by fate." (Marlowe) If one believes in fate, then essentially that individual understands that often times humans mistakenly believe that they can alter or evade fate. The interplay between fate and blindness as illustrated in the two plays "Oedipus the King" and "Oedipus at Colonius" by Sophocles demonstrates the close connection between the two themes. The main character Oedipus epitomizes that human misconception; in his emotional blindness he attempts to alter his fate preordained by the gods and yet suffers as his destiny dictates. Through out the two plays fate and blindness emerge as important elements and in the end the author illustrates that the two significantly intertwine.
             To begin, Sophocles cleverly utilizes irony to illustrate the essential theme of fate. The main character Oedipus encounters a dilemma when he learns from the Oracle at Delphi that it was his destiny to kill his father and marry his mother. As a result, in his human nescience, Oedipus in vain devices a strategy in which to evade such an ill-fate. Consequentially, Oedipus does not acknowledge that fate exists as a force in which all the loose ends will come together in order for the fulfillment of a prophecy. In the plays, fate acts as the master and regardless of the efforts of the characters, they unwillingly became participants in the tangled web of fate. In an effort to flee from his predestine course, Oedipus runs away from those he believed to be his parents. He killed a stranger on the road; but there was no escape for Oedipus, as fate would have it the stranger he killed was his real father, Laius King of Thebes. In his continued effort to evade fate he saved the city from the tyrannical rule of the Sphinx and wed the widowed queen Jocasta who also happened to be his real mother. Ironically, Jocasta and Laius heard the same prophesy before about ...