Summary:
Discusses the theme of whether Oedipus had power over his fate, and evidence in the text to support the view that Sophocles himself thought him innocent.
Oedipus the King would not have been successful throughout centuries as a tragic play if Oedipus were clearly responsible for his own tragedy. I attribute the play's ongoing success to Oedipus' innocence - or at least the debate over it - which immediately discredits any argument of his complete responsibility. I don't believe Sophocles would have even been moved to compose the story, least the audience been moved to praise it, and centuries later, students to study it, if it were simply a story of a criminal's rightful retribution. Sophocles himself believed Oedipus to be the innocent victim of a fateful tragedy, and built the play around this belief. Freud's summation of the story was a "Tragedy of destiny" and I believe Sophocles would agree. The story revolves around destiny, the resistance of people to it.....
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