Sophocles’ Oedipus the King recounts the woeful, fated downfall of the titular character. As the tragedy unwinds in torturous twists and turns, it traces Oedipus’ journey as he uncovers his true despicable history and recounts the honorable King’s descent into mad wretchedness. His tragic end, the texts seems to suggest, is his unavoidable destiny. On the other hand, Scripture, inspired by the Holy Spirit, surveys the entire story of mankind, his fall and his consequent need of a Savior. Because of God’s great mercy, man need not be doomed to an eternity apart from Him. Oedipus the King illustrates the irrevocability of fate—a stark contrast to the transformed destiny effected by the grace of the biblical God.

Fate refers to man’s final destiny—where life leaves him—and the various actions that lead him to that final doom, decided by two parties. The Oracle at Delphi prophesies that Oedipus will murder his father and marry his mother. Meanwhile, Tiresias foretells Oedipus’ resulting end: “No man will ever be/ ground into wretchedness as you will be” (Sophocles 521-522). In the Bible, man’s sinful nature in light of a Holy God condemns him to a final destiny of physical and spiritual death (ESV Romans 5.12 and Habakkuk 1.13a). According to Sophocles, a curious combination of both god and man determine fate. Scripture observes that, while Christ holds the keys to death and Hades, man must choose to either accept or reject Him as Lord and Savior—eternally affecting his personal, final destiny (ESV Acts 17.30 and John 3.18). In effect, fate is not only the milestones which take man to the end of the road, but also that end; and while in Oedipus the King, primarily god and secondarily man establish the road, in Scripture, God provides the good road, but man must choose to take it.

As the play unfolds, Sophocles reveals the futility of trying to circumvent fate. Twice, the gods unveil Oedipus’ grotesque future. Thrice, human beings strive to avoid the doom declared. After hearing the oracle of Laios’ murder by his son’s hand, Jocasta and her husband decide to abandon their baby boy, his ankles bound together, on a desert mountain that he may die. Nevertheless, the shepherd to whom they charge the baby, taking pity yet still hoping to bely fate, delivers him far, far away to another kingdom. Moreover, when Oedipus receives the oracle at Delphi, he flees his adoptive homeland, that he would “never see outrages/ like those the god promised, happen to [him]” (918-919). Each time man seeks a loophole through doom’s noose, he inadvertently furthers his fate: doom is untouchable by human schemes. Oedipus the King simply and clearly remarks that man cannot outwit fate.

In a similar way, Scripture affirms that man cannot save himself from a final destiny apart from God. God is holy—unblemished—and no unrighteousness can abide in His presence. Only a man untainted by sin can dwell in the King’s courts, and no amount of good deeds can assume moral perfection, for “all [man’s] righteous deeds are like a polluted garment…[man’s] iniquities, like the wind, take [him away]” (ESV Isaiah 64.6). No resume of good works can stand before Jesus Christ the Judge and secure man safe passage into eternal life with the Holy One: no amount of good works can blot out man’s sinful stains. As the Epistle to the Romans summarizes, “…[salvation] depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy,” (Romans 9.16). God above all things holds the key to sinful man’s doom. Man alone, though he strives unceasingly, cannot alter his dire destiny.

Within the world of Oedipus the King, the gods spinning fate’s thread display absolute indifference to man’s sorrow. From the beginning, after listening to the abhorrent transgressions he will commit at the Delphi oracle, Oedipus manifests righteous horror—such horror that he decides to give up home and family to flee his fate. Nevertheless, Oedipus unwittingly fulfills his doom. “O you/ pure majestic gods!” he beseeches after piecing together the telling clues of his transgressions, “Never, / never, let the day such things happen/ arrive for me” (Sophocles 958-961). And yet, the gods ignore his desperate plea and watch as the discovered truth effectively drives a wise king into a mad wretchedness. In incomparable grief, Oedipus gauges out his own eyes, after surveying his entire foul history of misdeeds. “…I’m evil/…utter filth!” Oedipus cries in anguish (948-949). Still, the gods remain unmoved and the thread of fate remains unaltered. Man’s sorrow does not reverse his doom: fate is undeterrable no matter man’s regret.

On the other hand, Scripture offers rescue from the clutches of sin. Man must appear unblemished before a Holy God to avoid certain separation from Him for eternity. Yet, God is not only holy: He is also loving. In His love, “He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (ESV John 3.16). Christ purifies man through His sacrifice—freeing him from sin’s doom. However, though God reaches out His merciful hand to all, man must accept His gift of grace by repenting of all past trespasses: “If [men] confess [their] sin, He is faithful and just to forgive [them their] sins and to cleanse [them] from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1.9). Now then, entrusting his eternal destiny in the hands of Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior, not only is man’s final destiny transformed, but also his life leading up to that moment as the Holy Spirit endows man with the power to “put off [the] old [sinful] self” (Ephesians 4.22). Thus, God, the Master of Destiny, provides a means of escape from the jaws of sin’s condemnation—a salvation no man can reach of his own righteousness—only by the grace of God.

The true tragedy of Oedipus the King, dwells in that Oedipus never possesses hope. His fate is predetermined and nonnegotiable, his future in state of bleak certainty. Man can never out run or outwit ravenous fate, and the gods have no intention of altering doom for man no matter how sorrowfully he plead. So suggests Sophocles’ classic tragedy, yet Scripture, in every way, provides the yearned for antidote to man’s sinful nature. As long as there is life, there is hope. For though man in his own strength cannot alter his eternal destiny, the Father’s grace through Christ Jesus provides all-abundant hope to a broken and sinful world, otherwise condemned to a dark and fearsome doom.

 

This essay was originally written for an English class under through the Belhaven High Scholars program.

 

 

Works Cited

ESV, The Holy Bible. Crossway: Good News Publishers, 2011. Print.

Sophocles. Oedipus the King. The Norton Anthology: Western Literature. Ed. Simon,       Peter. Ninth edition. New York/ London: W. W. Norton and Company, 2014. 666-706. Print.