Fate Is A Many Splendored Thing
In every culture, there is some sort of belief or point of view on fate; it is often seen as a force that is both unbeatable and immeasurable. The hand of fate is usually inescapable and leads the bravest of soldiers or the most loved of kings to meet their doom, controlling everything that leads to this downward spiral from greatness to disaster. Fate will decide everything, from who a man’s family is, to how he will live his life, all the way to the events that will shape his adulthood. In the play Oedipus Rex, which was written by the Greek playwright Sophocles, the hand of fate is present throughout the entire ordeal that is faced by the main character, Oedipus. In a few short scenes, ...
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Though he meets all the criteria of a tragic hero, all of this was caused by the power of fate; therefore, he is not a tragic hero.
In the life of every man, there is a point where his actions are not decided by his own power; giving in to the powers of the universe, a man may find himself doing some heinous deed otherwise thought undoable. Such was the case when Oedipus killed Laius. When Oedipus was young, he lived in Corinth with his father, Polybus, and his mother, Merope. One night, Oedipus was told by a stranger that Polybus and Merope were not his real parents. “At the board, a drunken fellow over his cups called me a changeling [. . .] I was content; and yet the thing still galled me.” (Sophocles, pg. 28) Oedipus was shocked and confused by this statement, so much so that he felt it necessary to travel to Delphi and speak with the Oracle. However, his quest was fruitless. “Phoebus sent me bootless away; but other terrible and lamentable things revealed, saying I should wed ...
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life, leading him to fulfill the prophecy it had issued forth at Delphi.
A hero of nobility will often fall the farthest, the nobility itself adding to the reality of the situation. A hero’s nobility is, of course, nothing of his own doing, since there is no way he could have preordained who would be his parents. A hero is also noble in character, virtuous and willing to put himself in danger for others. Such things are left up to fate: the gender of a baby, the date of birth, the life a child will live. Being born into nobility is something fate chooses for a select few people, as happened with Oedipus. Oedipus was raised as a child by Polybus and Merope, King and Queen of the ...
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"Fate Is A Many Splendored Thing." Essayworld.com. May 16, 2011. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Fate-Is-A-Many-Splendored-Thing/99198.
"Fate Is A Many Splendored Thing." Essayworld.com. May 16, 2011. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Fate-Is-A-Many-Splendored-Thing/99198.
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