Do we have control over our lives or are we simply riders on a twisted roller coaster called fate? Sophocles’ considers these questions and the concept of fate and free will in his tragedy, Oedipus the King.
In the play, feet serve as a recurring motif. In fact Oedipus’ name in Greek means “swollen feet”. Contextually this is important because as a baby “[his] ankles were pinned together" so he could be killed and his parents could avoid their own demise (1133). The binding of his ankles to hold him captive and eventually permanently scar him is representative of the confinement of destiny in the play.
An essential part of the play has to do not only with fate, Oedipus’ determination to avoid his fate. He refuses to be held by the shackles of fate. Surprisingly, things initially go well. After being ousted out of Thebes by his parents he is raised in Corinth by Polybus and Merope. For a short time there he unknowingly escapes the prophecy but is endangered when he decides to visit the Oracle at Delphi. There the Oracle prophesies the future his father feared long ago. Instead of accepting his fate and putting his life in the gods’ hands he decides to run away in a desperate and prideful attempt to save Polybus, who he believes to be his father.
These attempts at escaping his fate are not the only things that lend themselves to the foot motif in the play. There is also the consideration of the fervor with which Oedipus attempts to escape the shackles of destiny. He is undone by his belligerency. One occurrence crucial to the fulfillment of the prophecy is the murder of Laius, an incident that only happens due to his lack of emotional control. In a fit of rage he kills Laius and his attendants simply because they would not yield more of an intersecting road to him. Unwittingly through his tantrum he has sealed the cruel and twisted prophecy that defines his life.
Oedipus continues make rash and irrational decisions. Including accusing Creon, his brother-in-law, of treason, mocking the Tiresias the bind prophet, and calling down a cruel curse upon the murderer of Laius - who ironically turns out to be him. By the end of the play he pays for all of these actions. All of his contemptuous actions are futile, and ultimately are the reason he must suffer so much. His swollen feet represent these actions, and lend themselves to the thematic elements of fate in the play.
I like how you phrased it as Oedipus trying to avoid the shackles of fate, because much like how a prisoner is shackled by the ankle, Oedipus seems unable to escape destiny. He has the same desperate characteristics of a prisoner who refuses to accept his fate.
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