“Why should man fear
since chance is all in all for him, and he can clearly foreknow nothing? Best
to live lightly, as one can, unthinkingly…”- Jocasta, 217. Sophocles
was a genius in using thought, the indications and conversations given by
characters, to illustrate the wonderment of fate. He took into consideration
the mythological/religious views at the time and the essence of everyday human
interacting to create a story that questioned the purpose of fate, and if it
was used as a means to test humans. In Oedipus
the King, Oedipus was a victim of a fate that was crafted before his birth,
but was set in motion through personal choices. By trying to avoid his foretold
calamity, he unwittingly fulfilled it. Apart from dramatic irony, this is a
common theme in Greek stories and mythology in which a person, overly concerned
with their foretold fate, fulfills that fate by trying to escape it through
unhelpful and even destructive means.
“Truly
Zeus and Apollo are wise and in human things all knowing; but amongst men there
is no distinct judgment, between prophet and me-which of us is right…”
–Antistrophe of Chorus, page 209. According to historian Edith Hamilton, fate
was of great concern to the Greeks, and its workings resonate through many of
their myths and texts because it was a means to be divinely tested, especially
if it concerned a powerful or influential person. As the quote suggests, it was
the Gods who were closely watching events unfold and judged accordingly in
contrast to the humans living out their lives with no self-judgment or
scrutiny. In these myths, the characters always seem to make choices that
indicate they were in control of how their lives were handled; bad choices
leading to a fulfillment of a bad fate. In the case of Oedipus the King, Oedipus and his biological father Laius seem to
make bad choices that lead to negative consequences. It is Laius’ act of
attempted self-preservation at the expense of his newborn son’s life that sets
the chain in motion, and it is Oedipus’ pride and wrathfulness that leads him
to kill his father. Sophocles uses the Oracle of the God Apollo to reveal the
fates of both King Laius and Oedipus (From Jocasta’s verse, page 213). Upon
hearing of this prophesy, King Laius attempted to kill his son three days after
his birth by piercing his ankles and leaving him on a hill side. We could speculate that if Oedipus was spared
and grew up in Laius’ household, he would not have killed him in the way that
he did or married Queen Jocasta. Oedipus learned of this prophesy from a
drunken man and thought it applied to King Polybus and Merope, his adoptive
parents, which prompts him to flee (Oedipus’ verse, page 214). He then lets his
hurt pride provoke his rage and makes the mistake of killing the entire
entourage on the road, when in fact he could have contained it and spared them,
which may or may not have halted the prophesy.
Throughout
the play, characters give dialogue that hint to the purpose of fate and how
humans tend to react to it. Near the beginning, after Oedipus and Creon speak,
ironically with ending with “God will
decide whether we prosper or remain in sorrow” (204) the chorus immediately
insinuate, through a string of riddles, the feeling of anxiety and even fear
one gets through wanting to know the unknown. “I am stretched on the rack of doubt, and terror and trembling holds my
heart… Speak to me, immortal voice, child of golden Hope…” Later, Teiresias
the blind prophet hints to Oedipus that destiny is easier to bear if it is not
sought out (206). After Oedipus and
Jocasta speak about Oedipus’ past before arriving in Thebes, in which he
unknowingly killed his father and his entourage in a fit of rage, the chorus
immediately opens with “May destiny ever
find me pious in word and deed, prescribed by the laws that live on high…” – Strophe
215. From this alone we can see a glimpse of the divine plan to use fate to
test human nature.
Near the play’s conclusion, Oedipus
blames the Gods for setting up the plan, but realizes it was his own personal
actions that brought about the fulfillment. “It
was Apollo, friends, Apollo that brought this bitter bitterness, my sorrows to
completion. But the hand that struck me was none but my own…” – Oedipus,
223.
The
play ends with Oedipus going out into the world as a blind man, this time
without knowledge of any divine plan or fate bestowed upon him. In conclusion,
Sophocles used these characters to pose the question of why the Gods reveal to
humans their fate, and what do they expect by giving it. We can conclude that
it was for more than mere amusement, but to test humans for their upholding of
moral justice, even if they think they are doomed.
0 comments:
Post a Comment