Arrogance In Oedipus

A Victim of Circumstance The world that Oedipus lives in is a place that is controlled by Gods and the heavens. Fate is a driving force of nature, the Gods reinforce the fate of mortals and there is no escaping. Sophocles expresses this fact of Greek life in his epic tale of Oedipus Tyrannus, the story follows the basis that no matter the actions the same outcome will take place. Oedipus is unable to outrun his prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother because the Gods and fate were against him since birth, dooming him from his inception. Oedipus’ arrogance has no effect on the outcome of his life, he was simply acting as how a king should act. J. T. Sheppard agrees that there was no escape, “the pollution was incurred without the willing consent of the sinner” (Sheppard 195). The chorus points out that no mortal, even the great and powerful Oedipus can evade fate. The only escape from fate and the only way to be happy and have free will …show more content…
P.H Vellacott agrees that his father doomed him from the start by making the mistake of, “marrying Jocasta” (Vellacott 207). Oedipus may have been too proud to realize that he had killed his father and married his mother, yet in his eyes there was no way that he was born of Thebes, as a mere infant he was cast to live in a distant land where he was told that he was the birth son of another family. Since he had no recollection or idea that Thebes was his place of birth he figured that he was safe by running from his “home”. Oedipus ran from his home of Corinth in order to find the prophecy to be false, there is no way that he would ever assume that he had found his true birthplace and continued to complete the prophecy. He only realizes what he has done when the messenger brings him new that his father Polybus had died not by his hand, but that he was never his real