Free Will Of Oedipus example essay topic

In our everyday life people make choices, these choices either have a negative consequence or a positive one. Base on our free will we choose to do as we please. Example, some of us when we are young we aspire to be nurses, doctors or whatever the case may be. Sometimes we are encouraged to make the choices that will lead us into those careers or sometimes at the very last minute we choose to back out. All in all we exercise free will, which leads us to make those choices. Whether or not it is our destiny to be a doctor or not, somewhere along the way we consciously make the decision that takes us to our final career path.

Likewise in this paper I intend to talk about the themes of sight and blindness, with respect to Oedipus and Tiresias. Also look at free- will versus destiny with regards to Oedipus and Jocasta. The play Oedipus is full of symbolism pertaining to these themes which will support my argument as whether or not man's free- will which leads him to make choices to turn a blind eye to the truth and see what he wants to see or not see for that matter, that will leads him to his final destiny. This paper will show that Oedipus' choices fulfill his destiny. The theme of free will versus destiny comes out into the play Oedipus from beginning. What I mean by that is, as a child Oedipus is to be put to death by the hands of his parents, only they could not do it so instead they give him to someone and tell him to take him out of that country.

There we have it. A choice is made to keep Oedipus alive and to give him to a family that will love him. Another choice is made by the shepherd to give Oedipus to someone else. Again passing off Oedipus makes another choice to a family that can take care of him and want to have a child. So here we can see from the time Oedipus is a boy decisions are being made about his life in order for the fulfillment of the oracle not to come through. Here already you can see that the choices that are being made on Oedipus' behalf will have some effect later on in his life.

From general physics, from one of Newton's law he states "that every action have an equal and opposite reaction". This goes to show that what people consider little decisions will have big effects later". Oedipus has already committed the actions for which he is to suffer-actions prophesied, before his birth by, Apollo. But the dramatist's emphasis on Oedipus's character suggests that although Apollo has predicted what Oedipus will do, he does not determine it; Oedipus determines his own conduct, by being man he is". (p. 614). This is saying But the dramatist's emphasis on Oedipus's character suggests that although Apollo has predicted what Oedipus will do, he does not determine it; Oedipus determines his own conduct, by being man he is". that Oedipus character, that causes him to act without thinking rationally helps him to make decisions that he comes to regret. Being the king of course you have the freeness to do whatever it is that he wants to do, which allows him to make any kind of decisions he wants.

This free- will of Oedipus gets him running away from where he is raise to a new land. Only on the way to Thebes, he kills king Laius, fulfilling a portion of the oracle's prophecy. There he makes the choice to fight the king and his men over which road to travel on. "Oedipus acts with criminal disregard of the possible consequences when he kills a man he does not know. Moreover b his own account, he was hotheaded and proud". (Cameron, p. 131).

Once again his freeness cause him to take a life. On the other hand we have to look at another choice he makes between him and Creon". No I want you dead". (Text, p. 635).

Now if we juxtapose these two incidents, we will see that in both cases Oedipus is attack or he perceive himself being attach by Laius and by Creon. However, king Laius was not as fortunate as Creon. In Creon's case the Chorus and Jocasta plead for Creon. Again Oedipus makes the choice of listening and spears Creon's life.

With the theme of sight and blindness, it runs through the whole play, however I want to focus on the scene with Tiresias and Oedipus". You " re blind to the corruption of your life". (Text, p. 629). This is Tiresias telling Oedipus that his eyes are open and he can see the world on the outside, yet he cannot see all the destruction that he has cause. Another author puts it "he remains the passionate actor, given to the act, and acting fatefully, blindly, grandly, in short tragically", (Cameron, p. 110). This quote simplifies Oedipus's character for us.

Tiresias is physically blind can tell Oedipus the truth as he seeks after it yet his eyes are blind to what Tiresias is telling him. Oedipus in all his glory is being rude and disrespectful to Tiresias. Oedipus is using Tiresias physical blindness to say that the prophet does not know what he is talking about. "Ai- now I can see it all, clear as day", (text, p. 637). This is after speaking to Jocasta because Tiresias gets him upset. Finally his eyes are open and he can really see, both literally and physically.

Jocasta on the other hand realizes, what is going on pretty soon after Oedipus is asking her to tell him more about Laius's death". What are you saying? I shudder to look at you", (text, p. 637). Jocasta notice that what Tiresias said was the truth, that is why she immediately realized her shame and turn her face from Oedipus. Even though Jocasta realizes Oedipus is the killer, she continues to indulge Oedipus by answering his questions but she knows the truth. In "Theory Of Suicide,"people commit suicide for a variety of reasons, but in large numbers of cases it is a deliberate decision taken to avoid the indignity of old age, senility or pain- whether physical or emotional".

In Jocasta's case I believe she commit suicide out of pain. I believe Jocasta commit suicide because she did not want to remind herself of the pain that she caused her children, including Oedipus. She did not want to see the pain that she would cause her children while growing up, in Thebes, being that the whole city knows the family secrets. Jocasta chooses what people today may say the easy way out.

She took herself out of the picture while everyone else is coping with Oedipus as the murderer and as her child, and also the father of her children. Now she gives them something else to deal with, that is her death. So here we have the tragedy. It is one torture after the other.

Which leads to Oedipus physically blinding himself. Remember Tiresias tells him "blind who now has eyes, beggar who now is rich", (text, p. 630). Sophocles here is using Tiresias as a symbol to Oedipus. Not only he is using Tiresias to portray what will happen to Oedipus in the end of the play, but also he is using Tiresias to warn him about what will happen to him if he continues to make choices at the rate that he is going. From The Readings of Sophocles", the gods warn man, and yet man does what they have tried to save him from.

The heavens speak to man, but he understands him not". This is reinforcing my point on how Oedipus get clues, both physically and literally, yet for such a brilliant person it flies right over his head. Oedipus also makes the decision to gouge his eyes out of his head. Hear he physically blinds himself". He will grope his way toward a foreign soil, a stick tapping before him step by step", (text, p. 630).

Sophocles uses the theme of sight and blindness, here using Tiresias to tell Oedipus that very soon he too will be physically blind, and like Tiresias he (Oedipus) will feel his way out of the city using a cane as we modernize the term. It is ironic that Tiresias is telling Oedipus that he will be physically blind but at the same time Oedipus is already sightless to everything Tiresias tell him. "Oedipus blinds himself does not depend entirely o the interpretation of the messenger's willing and choosing. Oedipus, from the moment of recognition, has become aware of his real situation and, therefore, when he acts no longer in ignorance, his new awareness alters the character of his acting radically" (Cameron, p. 108). Oedipus chooses to self-mutilate himself, because he is now aware, or better yet his eyes are now open to the truth about himself. In the book titled Five Essay on the "Oedipus Tyrannous", Cameron states that Oedipus " knows now, let us say, who the enemy is; not Tiresias, nor Creon, as he had thought, but himself, and he acts accordingly, against himself".

I suppose this statement is quite true, because Oedipus knows all the penalties that is associated with his actions, so instead of letting someone else comes in and mutilate him he does it himself. He chooses to blind himself by his own free- will. I believe that he did not want to see the way others would look at him. To see the shame and to feel the pain that would be as a result of people's reaction towards him. In the book Readings on Sophocles, it states, "the lesson as well as the art of Sophocles is that man's fate, though determined by the gods, depends on his actions, and his actions on himself and his circumstances". This statement basically sums up what I set out to do in this paper and that is to say that even though Oedipus destiny was prophesied before hand he could have make some choices that would deter him from ending up the way he did.

Oedipus and Jocasta make decisions based on their power and the liberty to which they can exercise that free- will. In the same token they could have very well make better choices. Jocasta could have choose to stay alive while Oedipus could have choose not to kill a perfect stranger which would not result in him digging his eyes out in the end. Also the themes of sight and blindness keep coming up which if Oedipus, being the scholar that he is could have use some of that brain power to figure out what Tiresias is telling him rather than getting upset. Oedipus was destined to kill his father and yes sleep with his mother. However, the choices that he makes along the way brought him closer to fulfilling what Apollo prophesied and eventually he fulfill.

On the other hand, he could have choose to rationalize things with his father on that day when they were fighting over which road to take. Jocasta could have look into Oedipus's background before she marry him. She also could have choose to stay alive, even though it would have been painful, but it's more painful to see children loose both parents at once. So to conclude Oedipus destiny was already set by the gods however with his actions he enables them to come through.

Work Cited Cameron, Alister. The Identity of Oedipus the King New York University Press, 1968. Literary Companion Series. Readings on Sophocles. /Don Nar do, Book Editor. Copyright 1997.