CC - II : Oedipus as a tragic protagonist /Oedipus as A Victim Of Destiny/Oedipus as a Greek classical tragedy/Oedipus as a tragedy of or destiny is character

One of the penalties of any great work of art is that it lend itself various interpretation. So, it is with Sophocles' "Oedipus the king". Now,  the question which arises about the tragic protagonist Oedipus-whether he be a free agent, or a victim of  his own Destiny. In other word, which of the two -i.e. chance and individuality, governs his character and influence his action in the play. A critical analysis of the play would answer the question.

                                     As goes the concept of Greek tragedy -"destiny is character ",suggesting there by that "the operation of chance governs all things"(as Jocasta puts it). Chance or fate, in the older Greek tragedies is beyond human control. Viewed from this perspective, Sophocles' tragedy accords more with this concept of Greek tragedy, the reasons is not far to seek. It becomes evident when we should have in mind the substance of  Oedipus' story as it is given in the play.

                                                            That Oedipus was predestined to suffer because years ago, Apollo through an oracle declared to Oedipus' parents, Laius and Jocasta, that a son born to them was destined to kill his father and marry his mother; Thinking to circumvent the oracle, Laius and Jocasta had their new -born son abandoned at Mt. Cithaeron to die, its feet pinned together. The infant was rescued by a herdsman who took it back with him to Corinth .There the child grew to manhood, supposing himself to be the son of Polybus, king of the Corinth and his wife Merope, and called "Oedipus" became of the deformity to his feet .Taunted at a banquet with being no son of Polybus and Merope, he journey to Pytho to learn the truth of this; and the god gave him no answer to his question but stated that he was doomed to kill his father and marry is mother .Determined therefore never again to set foot in Corinth, Oedipus went onward and in a sudden quarrel at a cross road killed an elderly man-his father -unknowingly. He then came to Thebes and on solving the riddle of the sphinx, was hailed by that city as its deliverer from plague, and was made king; and the former king's wife-his mother-became his consort. When he learned the truth, he put out his own eyes.

                                The question is often asked: "Is Oedipus in some way a guilty man thus punished for his  wickedness?" Of course, he is not-he cannot be blamed for what happened when he was a baby, or before his birth. As the play shows, he has committed all these thing out of complete ignorance. Apollo's  oracle will prove true which is germane to the play, i.e. Oedipus as a human being has no control over his fate in changing the course of action in which his life was predestined/preordained. All that can be said of Oedipus that he plays, with his parents ,the inevitable penalty for what they did; in any case, he is just "uncomfortable". So, here we find that "destiny is character " is applicable in the case of Oedipus .

            But if we consider whether Oedipus himself is responsible for his downfall -i.e. is there any tragic flaw ("Hamartia")in his character? He has only one tragic flaw-i.e. his constant pursuit of knowledge to bring the truth to light. In other words, his unquenchable quest for truth (about the murderer of king Laius as well as about his true parentage) ultimately brings about his downfall. In this respect, we cannot, thereby assert that Oedipus suffer for his enough initiative and energy to try to find out the truth for himself. Actually, the oracle of Apollo (about purging of plague at Thebes) leaves Oedipus with a difficult problem-he does not sit down like a Chess-player and ponder his retort to all possible moves. He does intent on knowing the truth, because his circumstances makes him so as he is a responsible king.

      Form the above discussion, it can be said that the role of fate on Oedipus is almighty, i.e. all the actions performed by him were pre-ordained and he was helpless against his fate. he committed the heinous crime of parricide and incest unwittingly for which he was subject to endless sorrows and sufferings. obvious he is "more sinned against than sinning", for he suffer for no fault of his own. Thus, the playing tune with the concept of Greek tragedy, goes more with" destiny is character" than "character is destiny".