“What fates impose. that work forces must necessitate abide ; It boots non to defy both air current and tide” – William Shakespeare. Remark on how true this statement is in demoing that the Godhead intercession attributed to Oedipus’ ruin in Oedipus The King. I disagree with the statement to a certain extent that adult male is predestined to carry through his ain destiny and finally any signifier of intercession towards his fate would merely turn out to be ineffectual.

In Oedipus the King. Oedipus’ past actions were determined by destiny. but what he did in Thebes was out of his ain free will. therefore he is responsible for his ain ruin. However in some cases. I feel that destiny played a portion in the devastation of Oedipus as he was destined from birth to someday slay his male parent and bed his female parent. This prognostication. as warned by the prophet of Apollo at Delphi. would necessarily come to go through. no affair how he tried to avoid it.

In Oedipus the King. destiny serves as the adversary in the drama and is responsible for the ruin of Oedipus. There are certain elements that leads him to his devastation. which he had no control over. therefore it is undeniably non his free will that causes his ain ruin. but instead the preset fortunes that finally leads him to carry through the prognostication. One such illustration would be when Laius learnt of the prognostication that he “should decease a victim at the custodies of his ain son” . he pierced immature Oedipus’ mortise joints and “had ( Oedipus ) cast out upon a hillside to die” .

If he had non done so. Oedipus would hold ran off from him and Jocasta. merely like how he ran off from his adoptive parents in Corinth to avoid the prognostication. therefore the prognostication would non hold come to go through. It is besides because of destiny that causes his chanced meeting with Oedipus at the hamlets and when he ended up being murdered by his ain boy. do we cognize that while adult male may seek to alter his destiny. finally. he can non get away from it.

Another illustration would be when Oedipus attempts to queer destiny by flying Corinth and his adoptive parents upon acquisition of the prognostication. but merely ends up run intoing Laius at the hamlets and unknowingly slayings his ain male parent. The hamlets symbolise minutes where determinations will hold of import effects but where different picks are still possible. However. the

dry thing is that of all the people he could hold met at the hamlets and of all the times that he could hold met his male parent at that place. it had to be that exact point of clip when he flees Corinth and arrives at the hamlets. does he hold his chanced brush with his male parent and even consequences in him slaying the latter out of choler. therefore carry throughing the prognostication. This suggests that adult male is powerless in the face of his ain destiny and he has no pick but to accept his foreordained hereafter. therefore demoing that destiny played a portion in the ruin of Oedipus.

Though Oedipus’ past actions were predestined by destiny. but what he did in Thebes was of his ain free will. therefore he is responsible for his ain ruin. He is presented with a series of picks throughout the drama. but his tragic flaw. which is his chesty and rash nature. pushes him to impetuously do the incorrect determinations. the determinations that finally led him to his ain devastation. One such illustration is when Oedipus learns that the liquidator of Laius is doing the pestilence in Thebes. he could hold calmly investigated the affair. but he becomes fixated on happening the culprit to protect his pride as “a assistant to the God and to the dead” .

In his pursuit for the truth. he finally realizes that he has unwittingly fulfilled the prognostication by slaying Laius and get marrieding Jocasta. therefore he caused his ain ruin. His impulsiveness is farther shown when he metes out harsher penalties from behaving “uninjured from the land” . to “that adult male ( he ) banish” and eventually even cussing that “ ( the liquidator ) may blow his life away” . In making so. he has inadvertently spelled out his ain day of reckoning out of his ain free will.

Another illustration would be Oedipus’ grim chase of the truth. to larn of his existent birth line of descent. He was so fixated on following his birth parents that he chose to disregard the supplications of his married woman to halt. believing that she “thinks contempt of ( his ) birth parentage” by stating that “ ( his ) fixed resolve still holds” . His pursuit for the truth arises from his free will as seen from him declining Jocasta’s supplications. and it finally causes his ruin when he realises that he has unwittingly fulfilled the prognostication by slaying his male parent and kiping with his female parent.

Even before acquisition of the truth. he already had intuitions that he was really the liquidator of Laius after hearing Jocasta’s narrative and said “I think I have called expletives on myself in ignorance” . Despite cognizing that he may really be the boy of Laius and Jocasta. he wanted to larn the truth no affair what monetary value he has to pay. therefore it is out of his ain free will to seek out the truth that causes his ain ruin.

In decision. Oedipus’ chesty and rash nature causes him to go fixated on happening the liquidator of Laius and his relentless chase of the truth finally makes him the 1 responsible his ain ruin upon recognizing that he has fulfilled the prognostication. However. it is undeniable that destiny plays a portion in his ruin by puting preset fortunes. such as the prophet of Apollo at Delphi prophesising that Oedipus would slay his male parent and bed his female parent and the chanced meeting of him and Laius at the hamlets besides resulted in him slaying the latter to carry through the prognostication.

It is arguably true that Oedipus had control over his ain destiny as he could hold non become King of Thebes. non wed the espoused Jocasta and even merely ignored the prognostication. Oedipus had plentifulness of chances to do a better pick. but he was merely unsighted to those chances due to his tragic flaw. Then once more. it was the Supreme beings who gave him such a tragic defect. therefore making a paradox on who really is responsible for Oedipus’ ruin.