People’s destiny is predetermined by the actions
People have always been interested in their destinies, and this interest was supported either by fear or by relief. People’s actions are the main signs of what people will get in the future, what they deserve. Providing some actions people do not always think about the consequences, but it usually appears so that they get what they deserve and the play of the ancient Greek author Sophocles “Oedipus the King” is one of the literary examples that people’s destiny is usually predetermined by the actions, which person provides through his/her life.
Oedipus as a victim and person who deserves punishment
Reading the play it seems that Oedipus is the victim, whose life was not so exciting, but analyzing it the conclusion comes out that people overvalue him. Being a king, powerful and rich, does not always mean being a happy person. Without knowing a father and mother, being without parental love may make the reader feel sorry for Oedipus. His hubris character, inability to see the real estate of things may make people think about his hard childhood and way to power. The closer consideration of Oedipus’s life makes people understand that he is not such a victim, how wants to appear to others. Being blind not physically but mentally, Oedipus created his fate as it was. Being wiser a little, he could change his life and avoid that punishment which he deserved for his actions.
Oedipus knew his fate
So, what is the reason for punishing a person who had just entrusted himself to fate? The question contains the answer. Oedipus knew his fate, he knew that would have killed his father and get married to his mother, but such knowledge did not make him think before killing Laius and getting married to Jocasta. The blindness to trust is the main reason why Oedipus was punished as the reaction to the oracle’s words could have changed the life and the destiny of Oedipus.
People always get what they deserve
People always get what they deserve, and this hundred years of experience is always supported by millions of examples. Oedipus is not the exception, being blind in his heart, he was punished by real physical blindness. Understandings of his actions lead him to the understanding that he had to be punished. The awareness of his actions (the murder of his father and marriage to his mother) made him feel sorry for his action and had nothing to do but punish himself. The disability to see was a real punishment, not physical pain. Oedipus received his punishment for his actions and this punishment is argumentative. The realization of it is the main relief for him as we all are mortal and the question of the further condition is not solved.
So, people’s actions now predetermine the punishment or gift in the future. Disability for Oedipus to consider his actions, to analyze them reduced him to blindness. Providing some actions people should always think about consequences and make them think twice before providing this or that action. Oedipus had the chance to avoid his punishment, but he did not want to, he just was brought under the consequences and had to pay for that. The murder of the person is the main sin, and the cost for the murder is very high. The double pain is that he had killed his father that is the punishment in itself.
Works Cited
Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Minneapolis: Filiquarian Publishing, LLC., 2006.