Oedipus: Fate vs. Guilt

Oedipus is Guilty

• He’s guilty because he tried to change his fate – by trying to avoid his fate, he makes his fate come true
• Killed a man
• Kills Laius out of pride & anger
• Slept with his mother
• Pride: Tells the people to solve the problem themselves, not to look to the gods.
• Stubborn blindness: gets mad at Tiresias; Tiresias calls Oedipus blind; insists on pursuing the issue after Jocasta urges him to stop; blames everyone else for his problems; P 18 I: Oedipus is criticized for trying to flee from his prophecy

Oedipus is a victim of fate

• Oracle is infallible: “With what doom art thou sent?”
• Apollo is called invincible
• P 18 I: Oedipus is criticized for trying to flee from his prophecy
• Kills Laius out of self-defense
• Laius did not appear as royalty – Oedipus didn’t know he was killing a king
• Tried to get away – to avoid performing his fated evil
• Jocasta tells Oedipus that her baby was killed
• Jocasta & Laius try to avoid fate by killing Oedipus, but failed
• Everyone involved tried to avoid fate, but were not able to
• Oedipus fulfills his prophecy in complete ignorance

posted by Jeffrey @ Monday, January 16, 2006