Character and fate In Oedipus Rex

‘Oracles only predict the future or compel the king to act in certain manner’

INTRODUCTION
Greek tragedy is generally believed to be tragedy of fate, in contrast with Shakespearean tragedy, which is regarded as tragedy of character. Whether or not this is true of other Greek tragedies, it is inapplicable to “Oedipus Rex”. At the most we can say that both character and fate or god, play a part in the tragedy of Oedipus. Oedipus is certainly the victim of adverse chances and in this sense fate plays a part in his tragedy.

DEVELOPMENT OF THOUGHT
King Laius was told by the oracles that his son by Jocasta would kill him and would marry his mother. King Laius and Queen Jocasta took the extreme step of ordering the death of their own child, in order to escape the fate which had been foretold by the oracles, but in vain. In the same way when Oedipus learnt about the prophesies made by the oracle, he too did his utmost to avert his terrible fate. He fled from Corinth, determined, never again to set eyes on his supposed father and mother as long as they lived. On his way, he killed his real father quite unknowingly. He reached Thebes where people were in the grip of frightful monster. He killed the Sphinx and the people of Thebes made him their king in reward. The queen went with the throne. Thus, in complete ignorance of the identity of both his parents, he killed his father and married his mother. He performed these disastrous acts not only unknowingly and unintentionally, but also as a direct result of his efforts to escape the cruel fate, which the oracle at Delphi had communicated to him.

It is evident, then, the occurrences which bring about the tragedy in the life of Laius, Oedipus and Jocasta are the work of that mysterious supernatural power which may be called fate or destiny or be given the name Apollo. This supernatural power had pre-determined certain catastrophic events in the life of these people. These human beings take whatever measures they can think of, to avert those events and yet things turn out exactly as they had been foretold by the oracles.
As Aristotle expressed the view that tragic hero is a man highly esteemed and prosperous who falls into misfortune because of some hamartia. Now, there can be no doubt at all about the essential goodness of Oedipus. From the opening scene of play, we get the feeling that Oedipus is an ideal king. He is an able ruler, a father of his people, a great administrator and an outstanding intellect. His chief care is not for himself but for the people of the estate.
I grieve for you my children. Believe me, I know
All that you desire of me, all that you suffer;
And while you suffer, none suffers more than I
You have your several griefs, each for himself;
But my heart bears the weight of my own, and yours
And all my people’s sorrows (93-98)

Oedipus is not, however, a perfect man or even a perfect king. He does suffer from hamartia which makes him liable to incur the wrath of gods. He is a hot-tempered, rash, hasty in forming judgments, arbitrary even confident and excessively proud of his genius. He is a relentless seeker of truth. All this shows that Oedipus is not a man of flawless character. His pride in his own wisdom is one of his glaring faults. No seer or prophet found the solution of the riddle; this is Oedipus’ boast.
What was your vaunted seercraft ever worth?
And where were you, when the Dog-faced Witch was there? (423,424)
Until I came – I, ignorant Oedipus,came-
And stopped the riddler’s mouth, guessing the truth
(429-430)

Pride and self-confidence induce him to fell almost superior to gods. These defects constitute a tragic flaw in his character, which has been given the name of hamartia.
The connection between these defects of character in Oedipus and the sad facts he meets, is quite evident. It may be said that if he had not been hot tempered, he might not have got entangled in a fight on the road and thus have not been guilty of murdering his father. Similarly if he had been a little more cautious, he might have hesitated to marry a woman old enough to be his mother. After all there was no compulsion either in the fight that he picked up during his journey or in the act of his marriage with Jocasta. Thus both these crimes may be attributed to his own defects of character, though he did so quite unknowingly. But at the same time it has to be recognized that the pronouncement of the oracles were after all inescapable. What was foretold by the oracles must inevitably happen.

If Oedipus is the innocent victim of a doom which he can not avoid, he would appear to be a mere puppet. The whole tragedy in that case becomes a tragedy of destiny which denies human freedom. But such a view would be unsound. Sophocles does not want to regard “Oedipus Rex” as a puppet; there are certain reasons to believe that Oedipus had been portrayed as a free agent, though some of his actions are fate bounded. For example his condemnation of Teiresias and Creon, his conversation with Jocasta leading him to reveal the facts of his life to her and to his learning from her the circumstances of the death of Laius, his pursuing his investigating despite the efforts of Jocasta and the shepherd to stop him and so on.

Oedipus is a relentless seeker of truth. He was determined to solve the problem of his parentage and to discover the truth. The real tragedy lies in this discovery. If he had not discovered the truth, there would rarely have been any tragedy. The intermediate cause of his ruin is therefore not fate or gods nor oracle said that he must discover the truth. The cause: of tragedy lies in his own weakness, his self blinding and self banishment are equally free acts of choice which is also a major tragedy.

CONCLUSION
So to sum up the conclusion, we can say that in the most tragic events of Oedipus life- father’s murder and marriage with his own mother, the role of fate cannot be denied. But the discovery of truth is the result of the compulsions of his own nature. The real tragedy lies in it. But the parricide and incest were pre-ordained and for these fate is responsible.