Oedipus the King Matt Smith Midterm paper 10/8/00 Oedipus the King: A tragedy of fate By definition a tragedy satisfies the moral sense, it brings forth pity or fear and it tells a story of misfortune by reversal of situation, all of which are fulfilled by Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. This being said, I will argue that this play is actually a tragedy of fate: “its tragic effect depends on the conflict between the all-powerful will …showed first 75 words of 924 total…

…showed last 75 words of 924 total…that the misfortunes of Oedipus were brought on by acts of his own free will would defile the Sophoclean meaning behind this play. It should now be quite evident that Oedipus was cursed with a predestination fit for no mortal human being. The misfortunes he experienced were not due to his own actions but rather were cast upon him by the gods and only through divine intervention was the oracle of Apollo, at Delphi fulfilled.