Predestination is the idea in that a higher power Essays

Predestination is the idea in that a higher power is controlling a person's outcome. By following this definition, a person is saying he or she has no control over their life. Free will is the idea that people can control their own destiny. People's choices and not a higher power control a person's life. The idea of free will is a major theme in th e plays of Oedipus the King. In it the authors use Oedipus to show that people cannot run away from their destiny. The beginning of the play starts with a prophecy. The prophecy is a very important because it is part of the idea of predestination. The events are already set in place and are going to happen whether people believe in them or not. The king at the time, King Laius, really wants a son so he goes to the Oracle of Apollo. The oracle tells Laius that if he has a son then his son will kill his father and marry his mother. The king has a son and sends the boy off. His son is saved by a shepherd and adopted by the king and queen of Corinth. Laius son, now named Oedipus, finds out he is adopted , he goes to the same oracle that his father Laius went too. She does not think it is appropriate to tell him who his real parents are, but she does tell him the prophecy. When Oedipus learns of his prophecy, he immedia tely leaves and heads for Thebes thinking he could escape his destiny and also because he thinks the prophecy is about his adoptive parents and not his real pare nts whom he does not even know . Oedipus thinks it is his "free will" allowing to leave Corinth and he would not fulfil the prophecy, but by leaving Corinth Oedipus actually starts going down the path to his destiny. While he is travelling he gets into a fight with a caravan and unknowingly kills his father, Laius. He then heads to Thebes where he wins the throne by successfully answering the riddle from the Sphinx. Oedipus has now fulfilled the prophecy. He kills his father in the fight and then marries the queen of Thebes who is his mother. When Oedipus finds out he is his father's killer, he blinds himself as punishment. Sophocles is showing his strong belief in predestination by using Oedipus. When the play first starts, it starts with a prophecy. The prophecy is important because it is fate, the prophecy will happen no matter what. The oracle is always right, but people failed to actually believe what would happen even when the clues were there. Oedipus knowledge of his fate was the catalyst for him to fulfil his destiny. If Oedipus does not go asking for his adoptive parents, then he would not have left Corinth. The reader could also say that if Oedipus would not have been adopted then he would have known the identity of his real parents so he would not have fulfilled the prophecy, but by Sophocles making Laius abandon Oedipus as a baby to die Sophocles is showing how people cannot run from their destiny. The events were set before Oedipus were a baby that would ultimately lead him down the path.