The Role Of Choices In Sophocles Oedipus Rex

Chance, or lack thereof, is one of the reoccurring themes in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex. Throughout the plot of the story, Oedipus encounters situations that cause him to make irrational and quick decisions. These decisions lead him to his ultimate fate, marrying his mother and killing his father. Oedipus’ life is not up to fate, the decisions he makes are ultimately reflected in the ending of the tragedy; without these decisions, there would be no plot, they are essential to the progression of the play. As Jokasta is speaking to Oedipus, she tells him, “Why should a human being live in fear? Chance rules our lives!” (Sophocles 1118-19). However, Oedipus is not living in fear. In fact, he was under the impression that he had previously …show more content…
It is best to take life as it comes.” (Sophocles 1120-21). She contradicts herself in the fact that if she really believed that chance ruled their lives, and that no one has knowledge of the future; why would she attempt to kill her newborn son? Binding an infant’s feet and leaving him on a mountainside to die, because of a prophecy is not, in any case, allowing chance to rule someone’s life. If Jokasta was under the impression that chance really did rule her life, then why did she (and her husband) go out of their way to avoid the prophecy? Jokasta also says, “Do not worry you will wed your mother. It’s true that in their dreams a lot of men have slept with their own mothers…” (Sophocles 1122-23). When she says this, she is trying to convince Oedipus to drop the subject. She is trying to make the prophecy that both she and Oedipus received seem commonplace, to push away his worry. It is important to keep in mind that at this point in the play, Jokasta still does not know that Laius was killed by Oedipus. She is, at this point, still under the impression that Laius was killed by a band of …show more content…
If Oedipus truly believed that chance ruled his life, he would have never gone to the oracle to see if he was an orphan. This was the first step in creating the tragedy of Oedipus’ life. Without visiting the oracle, he would have never gotten the prophecy that doomed him. He would have at no time left his home and killed Laius. He also would have never defeated the sphinx and married his mother. If he truly believed in chance, Oedipus could have waited to see who the killer of Laius was, but instead he insisted that Creon go to the oracle at Delphi. The events that occurred in Oedipus’ life were not without reason or apparent design; they occurred solely because of the choices Oedipus executed in the process of cheating out the