Discuss the Relationship Between Man and the Gods in "Oedipus Rex"

Discuss the Relationship Between
Man and the Gods in "Oedipus
Rex"
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Crucial Events Pre-determined
~~~~~~~~~~~

Oedipus Rex is, to a large extent, a
tragedy of fate. The crucial events in the
play have been pre-determined by fate or
the gods. Human beings seem rather
helpless in the face of the circumstances
which mould their destiny.
King Laius was told that his own son by
Jocasta would kill him. Laius did
everything possible to moment such a
disaster. As soon as Jocasta gave birth to
a son, Laius had him chained and handed
him over to a trustworthy servant with
strict and precise instructions to the
effect that the child be exposed on. Mt.
Cithaeron and allowed to perish. No child
could have survived under the
circumstances. But the servant, out of
compassion, handed over the child to a
Corinthian shepherd who passed him on
to the Corinthian King. The child grew up
as the son of Polybus and Merope, the
King and Queen of Corinth, and
subsequently killed his true father, Laius.
Of course, the son killed his father
unknowingly and in complete ignorance
of the real identity of his victim. But
Apollo’s oracle was fulfilled in the case
of Laius even though he and his wife
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 oracle.
~~~~~~~~~~
Oedipus’s Efforts to Avert His Fate
Thwarted
~~~~~~~~~
Oedipus, the son whom Laius had
begotten, had likewise to submit to the
destiny which Apollo’s oracle
pronounced for him. Oedipus learnt from
the oracle that he would kill his own
father and marry his own mother. Like
his parents, Oedipus tried his utmost to
avert a terrible fate. He fled from
Corinth, determined never again to set
eyes on his supposed father and mother
as long as they lived. His wanderings
took him to Thebes the people of which
were facing a great misfortune. King
Laius had been killed by an unknown
traveller (who was none other than
Oedipus himself) at a spot where three
roads met; the city was in the grip of a
frightful monster, the Sphinx, who was
causing a lot of destruction because
nobody was able to solve the riddle
which she had propounded. Oedipus was
able to solve the riddle and thus put an
end to the monster. As a reward for the
service he had rendered to the city,
Oedipus was joyfully received by the
people as their King and was given
Laius’s widow as his wife. 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 as a direct result of
his efforts to escape the cruel fate which
the oracle at Delphi had communicated
to him.
~~~~~~~
Characters Not Responsible for their
Fate
~~~~~~~~
It is evident, then, that 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 of
Apollo. This supernatural power had pre-
determined certain catastrophic events in
the life of these human beings. These
human beings are even informed in
advance that they will become the
victims of certain shocking events; 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. How
can we attribute any responsibility for
the tragic happenings to characters?
Oedipus, the greatest sufferer in the play,
has done nothing at all to deserve the
fate which overtakes him. Nor do Laius
and Jocasta deserve the fate they meet.
~~~~~~~~~
The Goodness and Intelligence of
Oedipus
~~~~~~~~~~
Let us, however, take a closer look
at the character of Oedipus, the tragic
hero of the play. Aristotle expressed the
view that the tragic hero is a man,
esteemed and prosperous, who falls into
misfortune because of some hamartia or
defect. Now, there can be no doubt at all
about the essential goodness of Oedipus.
He is an able ruler, a father of his
people, an honest and great
administrator, and an outstanding
intellect. His chief care is not for himself
but for the people of the State. The
people look upon him as their saviour.
He is adored and worshipped by them.
He is also a religious man in the
orthodox sense; he believes in oracles;
he respects the bonds of family; and he
hates impurity. Indeed, in the prologue
of the play we get the feeling that
Oedipus is an ideal King. That such a
man should meet the sad fate which he
does meet is, indeed, unbearably painful
to us.
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Oedipus’s Defects of Character
~~~~~~~
Oedipus is not, however, a perfect
man or even a perfect King. He does
suffer from a hamartia or a defect of
character which makes him liable to
incur the wrath of the gods. He is hot-
tempered, rash, hasty in forming
judgments, easily provoked, and even
somewhat arbitrary. Even though in the
beginning his attitude towards Teiresias
is one of reverence, he quickly loses his
temper and speaks to the prophet in a
highly insulting manner accusing both
him and Creon of treason. His sentencing
Creon to death even though subsequently
he withdraws the punishment shows his
rashness and arbitrariness. Indeed, in the
two scenes with Teiresias and Creon,
Oedipus shows a blind suspicion towards
friends, an inclination to hasty inference,
and a strange vindictiveness. When he
meets opposition, or thinks he does, he
easily loses all self-control. His position
and authority seem to be leading him to
become a tyrant. (That is the reason why
this play is also called Oedipus Tyrannus ).
Creon has to remind him that the city
does not belong to him alone. Even
when blinded he draws the reproach;
“Do not crave to be master in everything
always.” All this shows that Oedipus is
not a man of a flawless character, not a
man completely free from faults, not an
embodiment of all the virtues. His pride
in his own wisdom is one of his glaring
faults. His success in solving the riddle of
the Sphinx seems to have further
developed his inherent feeling of pride.
No seer or prophet found the solution:
this is Oedipus’s boast, pride and self-
confidence that induce him to feel almost
superior to the gods. There is in him a
failure of piety even. Under the influence
of Jocasta, he grows sceptical of the
oracles. Thus there is in him a lack of
true wisdom and this lack is an essential
feature of the man who is on the verge
of becoming an impious tyrant.
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The Oracle’s Predictions Inescapable
~~~~~~~~~
But the question that arises is:
what
is the connection between these defects
of character in Oedipus and the sad fate
that he meets. 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 might 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.
Both his killing his father and his
marrying his mother may thus be
attributed to his own defects of
character. At the same time it has to be
recognised that the pronouncements of
the oracles were inescapable. What was
foretold by the oracle must inevitably
happen. Even if Oedipus had taken the
precautions above hinted at, the
prophecy was to be fulfilled. The oracle’s
prediction was unconditional; it did not
say that if Oedipus did such and such a
thing he would kill his father and marry
his mother. The oracle simply said that
Oedipus would kill his father and marry
his mother. What the oracle said was
bound to happen.
~~~~~~~
Oedipus Not a Puppet, But a Free Agent
in
His Actions on the Stage
~~~~~~~~~~
If Oedipus is the innocent victim of a
doom which he cannot avoid, he would
appear to be a mere puppet. The whole
play in that case becomes a tragedy of
destiny which denies human freedom.
But such a view would also be unsound.
Sophocles does not want to regard
Oedipus as a puppet; there is reason to
believe that Oedipus has been portrayed
largely as a free agent. Neither in Homer
nor in Sophocles does divine fore-
knowledge of certain events imply that
all human actions are pre-determined.
The attendant in the present play
emphatically describes Oedipus’s self-
blinding as voluntary and self-chosen and
distinguishes it from his involuntary
murder of his father and marriage with
his mother. Some of Oedipus’s actions
were fate-bound, but everything that he
does on the stage, from first to last, he
does as a free agent—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 investigation
despite the efforts of Jocasta and the
Theban shepherd to stop him, and so on.
What fascinates us in this play is the
spectacle of a man freely choosing, from
the highest motives, a series of actions
which lead to his own ruin. Oedipus
could have left the plague to take its
course but his pity over the sufferings of
his people compelled him to consult the
oracle. When Apollo’s word came, he
could still have left the murder of Laius
un-investigated, but his piety and his
love of justice compelled him to start an
inquiry. He need not have forced the
truth from a reluctant Theban shepherd,
but he could not rest content with a lie
and, therefore, wanted to prove the
matter fully. Teiresias, Jocasta, the
Theban shepherd, each in turn tried to
stop Oedipus, but in vain; he was
determined to solve the problem of his
own parentage. The immediate cause of
his ruin is not fate or the gods; no oracle
said that he must discover the truth. Still
less does the cause of his ruin lie in his
own weakness. What causes his ruin is
his own strength and courage, his loyalty
to Thebes, and his love of truth. In all
this we are to see him as a free agent.
And his self-blinding and self-banishment
are equally free acts of choice.
~~~~~~~~
The Responsibility of fate and the
Responsibility of Character
~~~~~~~~
What is our conclusion, then? In
spite of the evidence to prove Oedipus a
free agent in most of his actions as
depicted in the play, we cannot forget
that the most tragic events of his life—
his murder of his father and his marriage
with his mother—had inevitably to
happen. Here the responsibility of fate
cannot be denied. But the discovery by
Oedipus of his crimes or sins is the result
of the compulsions of his own nature.
The real tragedy lies in this discovery,
which is due to the traits of his own
character. If he had not discovered the
truth, he would have continued to live in
a state of blissful ignorance and there
would have been no tragedy—no shock,
no self-blinding, and no suffering
(assuming, of course, that Jocasta too did
not discover the truth). But the parricide
and the incest—these were pre-ordained
and for these fate is responsible.