OEDIPUS THE KING

Translated by Robert Fagles

Fate and Free Will

Annotate this passage for what it shows us about how fate and the possibility of free will operate in this play. Some things to consider: what does Jocasta say about fate in the beginning of this passage? Do you think her view changes by the end? Do the characters in this play have free will or does this passage show us that their lives are entirely determined by fate? Point out places where the problem of fate and free will are explored and what you think they mean. You can also make the other kinds of annotations we've been working on, such as pointing out a detail and explaining what you think it means in relation to the text as a whole or on a deeper level, asking questions about elements of the text that are confusing, or making connections to other course materials or personal experience.

Jocasta

There.
Didn’t I tell you from the start?

Oedipus

So you did. I was lost in fear.

Jocasta

No more, sweep it from your mind forever.

Oedipus

But my mother’s bed, surely I must fear—

Jocasta

Fear?
What should a man fear? It’s all chance,
chance rules our lives. Not a man on earth
can see a day ahead, groping through the dark.
Better to live at random, best we can.
And as for this marriage with your mother—
have no fear. Many a man before you,
in his dreams, has shared his mother’s bed.
Take such things for shadows, nothing at all—
Live, Oedipus,
as if there’s no tomorrow!

Oedipus

Brave words,
and you’d persuade me if mother weren’t alive.
But mother lives, so for all your reassurances
I live in fear, I must.

Jocasta

But your father’s death,
that, at least, is a great blessing, joy to the eyes!

Oedipus

Great, I know . . . but I fear her—she’s still alive.

Messenger

Wait, who is this woman, makes you so afraid?

Oedipus

Merope, old man. The wife of Polybus.

Messenger

The queen? What’s there to fear in her?

Oedipus

A dreadful prophecy, stranger, sent by the gods.

Messenger

Tell me, could you? Unless it’s forbidden
other ears to hear.

Oedipus

Not at all.
Apollo told me once—it is my fate—
I must make love with my own mother,
shed my father’s blood with my own hands.
So for years I’ve given Corinth a wide berth,
and it’s been my good fortune too. But still,
to see one’s parents and look into their eyes
is the greatest joy I know.

Messenger

You’re afraid of that?
That kept you out of Corinth?

Oedipus

My father, old man—
so I wouldn’t kill my father.

Messenger.

So that’s it.
Well then, seeing I came with such good will, my king,
why don’t I rid you of that old worry now?

Oedipus

What a rich reward you’d have for that!

Messenger

What do you think I came for, majesty?
So you’d come home and I’d be better off.

Oedipus

Never, I will never go near my parents.

Messenger

My boy, it’s clear, you don’t know what you’re doing.

Oedipus

What do you mean, old man? For god’s sake, explain.

Messenger

If you ran from them, always dodging home . . .

Oedipus

Always, terrified Apollo’s oracle might come true—

Messenger

And you’d be covered with guilt, from both
your parents.

Oedipus

That’s right, old man, that fear is always with me.

Messenger

Don’t you know? You’ve really nothing to fear.

Oedipus

But why? If I’m their son—Merope, Polybus?

Messenger

Polybus was nothing to you, that’s why, not in
blood.
Oedipus. What are you saying—Polybus was not my father?

Messenger

No more than I am. He and I are equals.

Oedipus

My father—
how can my father equal nothing? You’re nothing to me!

Messenger

Neither was he, no more your father than I am.

Oedipus

Then why did he call me his son?

Messenger

You were a gift,
years ago—know for a fact he took you
from my hands.

Oedipus

No, from another’s hands?
Then how could he love me so? He loved me, deeply . . .

Messenger

True, and his early years without a child
made him love you all the more.

Oedipus

And you, did you . . .
buy me? find me by accident?

Messenger

I stumbled on you,
down the woody flanks of Mount Cithaeron.

Oedipus

So close,
what were you doing here, just passing through?

Messenger

Watching over my flocks, grazing them on the
slopes.

Oedipus

A herdsman, were you? A vagabond, scraping for
wages?

Messenger

Your savior too, my son, in your worst hour.

Oedipus

Oh—
when you picked me up, was I in pain? What exactly?

Messenger

Your ankles . . . they tell the story. Look at them.

Oedipus

Why remind me of that, that old affliction?

Messenger

Your ankles were pinned together. I set you free.

Oedipus

That dreadful mark—I’ve had it from the cradle.

Messenger

And you got your name from that misfortune
too,
the name’s still with you.

Oedipus

Dear god, who did it?—
mother? father? Tell me.

Messenger

I don’t know.
The one who gave you to me, he’d know more.

Oedipus

What? You took me from someone else?
You didn’t find me yourself?

Messenger

No sir,
another shepherd passed you on to me.

Oedipus

Who? Do you know? Describe him.

Messenger

He called himself a servant of . . .
if I remember rightly—Laius.
(Jocasta turns sharply.)

Oedipus

The king of the land who ruled here long ago?

Messenger

That’s the one. That herdsman was his man.

Oedipus

Is he still alive? Can I see him?

Messenger

They’d know best, the people of these parts.
(Oedipus and the Messenger turn to the Chorus.)

Oedipus

Does anyone know that herdsman,
the one he mentioned? Anyone seen him
in the fields, here in the city? Out with it!
The time has come to reveal this once for all.

Leader

I think he’s the very shepherd you wanted to see, a moment ago. But the queen, Jocasta,
she’s the one to say.

Oedipus

Jocasta,
you remember the man we just sent for?
Is that the one he means?

Jocasta
That man . . .
why ask? Old shepherd, talk, empty nonsense,
don’t give it another thought, don’t even think—

Oedipus

What—give up now, with a clue like this?
Fail to solve the mystery of my birth?
Not for all the world!

Jocasta

Stop—in the name of god,
if you love your own life, call off this search!
My suffering is enough.

Oedipus

Courage!
Even if my mother turns out to be a slave,
and I a slave, three generations back,
you would not seem common.

Jocasta

Oh no,
listen to me, I beg you, don’t do this.

Oedipus

Listen to you? No more. I must know it all,
must see the truth at last.

Jocasta

No, please—
for your sake—I want the best for you!

Oedipus

Your best is more than I can bear.

Jocasta

You’re doomed—
may you never fathom who you are!

Oedipus (to a servant)

Hurry, fetch me the herdsman, now!
Leave her to glory in her royal birth.

Jocasta
Aieeeeee—
man of agony—
that is the only name I have for you,
that, no other—ever, ever, ever!
(Flinging through the palace doors. A long, tense silence
follows.)