CHOOSE WISELY

Many might say that Fate is the antagonist of the play Oedipus because it decides Oedipus' life for him. I argue that Oedipus, while being the protagonist, is actually his own antagonist because of his tragic flaw of making rash decisions when faced with emotional turmoil.

In the middle of the play, Oedipus reveals how he came to be the King. He speaks of a drunk telling him that he was not the biological child of his parents (Plybus and Merope) and uses words like “irked”, “insult”, “rankled” and “scandal” to describe how the accusation made him feel. With these feelings threshing about inside himself, he decides to “privily without [his parents] leave” go to Apollo and find out for himself if what the drunk told him is true . When the truth is confirmed, he learns of the prophesy of his life. His rash decision to calm his troubled mind leads him to take his next step right into Fate’s hand. He flees his parents, and his land.

On his journey, he is almost run off the road by two men and because it “jostled” him, he gave in to the urge to hit the guy. Few civilized people lash out with such anger that they kill without hesitation, but Oedipus does. His inability to control his temper leads him to kill his real father. Thus, falling deeper into Fate's trap.

Later, when Oedipus finds his wife/mother, Jocasta, dead in her room, he gives a “maddened roar” and takes her down from the noose. In the very next moment he stabs his eyes out with her brooches. Again, his emotions get the better of him and he performs the irreversible act of making himself blind.

Oedipus after stabbing his eyes out
Image: {link to:http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/texts/Tragedy/OedipusRex.htm}

Oedipus makes his worst decisions in the heat of the moment. Unfortunately, each of these decisions allows him to become the fulfillment of his prophesy. Before Oedipus makes these decisions, the prophesy is just words, but once he allows his blinding pain to guide his choices rather than logic or thought, he becomes the man that he is foretold to be. Oedipus, the protagonist, runs from the prophesy while Oedipus, the antagonist, makes decisions that bring the prophesy to fruition.

Oedipus, himself, actually notes this when he says that Apollo brought these things to pass,

But the right hand that dealt the blow

Was mine, none other.

Oedipus being his own antagonist plays perfectly into the purpose of a tragedy. Which is supposed to be thought-provoking and allow the individual in the audience to make comparisons to his or her own life. In this instance, everyone can relate to making irresponsible and irrational decisions when we feel heart broken or sad or angry. We can learn from this play by thinking before acting.