Fate is the idea that people's lives are predetermined and that no matter what is done, fate cannot be changed. With the gods it was used to explore events that seemed unexplainable. Sophocles explores this by explaining Oedipus' fate. Fate is a compelling idea. Regardless of how hard Oedipus

Of all the suffering in the play, Oedipus by far bears the most pain. There is the suffering of gouging his eyes, coupled with the blindness that surely follows; along with the blindness comes the humiliation of being handicapped. However, all this physical pain was self-inflicted. His belief was that he could never be punished enough for his crimes. (p.87 ln. 1345) His belief was also accompanied by fierce emotional torture. Firstly, there is the anguish of the knowledge that he killed his own father. This irony is fantastic because he should respect his father but in actually winds up killing him. Understandably, this would lead to great anguish; plus, he slept with his mother. The pain of incest is the sheer disgust in knowing that his brothers were his sons, his sisters were his daughters and his wife was his mother. Obviously, Oedipus has undergone extreme pain and suffering because of the god's will.

There is also the fact of knowing that his mother is suffering terrible pain. Again, this would cause Oedipus considerable agony. As a large part of the last stasimon explains (p.91 ln. 1678), another way in which Oedipus is pained is in knowing that his daughters will suffer. Living in a patriarchal society, they would have to marry a man in order for them to live a reasonable life. However, he knows that men would not want his daughters because of their background. Again knowing his children will suffer troubles him. Oedipus says ". . . who will he be, my dear ones? Risking all to shoulder the curse that weighs down my parents. . ." (p. 90 ln. 1602) showing that he concerned for their impending future. Oedipus experiences great grief when he looks back and realizes how much he has fallen from his former perch of power. It would be painful seeing how great he used to be, as compared to the shell he is by the end of the play. In Oedipus' words, "The blackest things a man can do, I have done them all!" (p. 90 ln. 1642) summarizing the extremity of his pain.

An example of the Greeks link from fate to the gods is in the story of Arachne the weaver and Athene, god of wisdom. Arachne was so apt at weaving that she challenged the god Athene to a contest. When Athene won, she turned Arachne into a spider. As punishment for her brashness, Arachne was doomed to a life of weaving and being destroyed by man. This is an example of the gods punishing man for challenging their supremacy, an action that is repeated in King Oedipus.

struggles, he is still on the receiving end of what was predetermined. As a baby he survived the elements on Mount Cithaeron. Sophocles shows the reader the dominance of fate based by the fact that Oedipus lived.

Another character who upsets the gods is Oedipus. This starts before the play when he tried to run from his fortune. Again he confronts the gods with his encounter with Tiresias. Initially, he disregards what he says. Given that Tiresias' words are the voices of the gods, this means he is in

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Approximate Word count = 1991
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)