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.)