Freewill In Oedipus The King Essay

Humanity perpetually attempts to fabricate an abstract concept of freewill—in which man governs his fate through his choice of conduct. Perhaps, however, humanity has deceived itself to obscure the infallible construct that governs mundane existence. Perhaps the confines of fate bind humanity to inevitable tragedy, and mankind is subject to the inexorability of the unperceivable. In Sophocles’ play, Oedipus the King, prophet and oracle of Apollo, Tiresias, embodies a pivotal role as both a tragic hero and instrument of inevitable calamity for central protagonist, Oedipus. Tiresias functions as a veracious construct of the inevitability of fate, through the subjection of the play’s embodiment of exaltation and grandeur, Oedipus, to utter futility, explicating the inferiority of self-perceived freewill in the face of fate. Tiresias’ tragic flaw of conformed rejection in his prophecy among the citizens of Thebes further parallels to the underlying theme of fate versus freewill, as Tiresias functions as a comprehensive representation of the imminence of humanity’s inescapable …show more content…
In the play, the citizens of Thebes adamantly deny the merit of Tiresias’ knowledge and prophecy, implicating that the supremacy of fate is somehow flawed. This portrayal of conformed rejection of Tiresias’ unyielding power as the prophet of fate further parallels to societal perception of fate versus freewill. In a similar respect of Thebes’ implication of Tiresias’ invalidity, humanity contrives a concept of freewill in order to suggest the superiority of human-fabricated freewill over fate. In this way, Tiresias acts as a representation of the inevitability of fate, while the citizens of Thebes act as a conformed belief in freewill. Through this representation, Sophocles raises inquiry upon the validity of humanity’s concept of freewill in conjunction with