The Greek play writer, Sophocles, wrote over 120 plays in his lifetime. Today, only seven of those remain, including the Oedipus trilogy. Oedipus is said to have brought a curse onto his house, and I think that he did. I stand reveled at last- cursed in by birth, cursed in marriage…” (Oedipus ll. 1308-1309). He himself was blinded and thrown into exile, his wife hung herself, and his daughter was executed for trying to bury her brother, whom had been accused a traitor. The curse doesn’t stop there. King Creon’s son commits suicide because his bride was killed, his wife kills herself because her son is dead, and Creon is left alone in misery.
When Oedipus was first born, there was a prophesy made that he would kill his father and marry his mother, which came true. Oedipus is saved by a shepherd, given to his adopted parents, runs away, and kills his father and marries his mother out of all the people in the world. This is all too huge of a coincidence for it to all happen and play out just as the prophecy had described if fate wasn’t involved.
All of the deaths that the house of Oedipus endures have one thing in common, they either kill themselves or someone in their family is responsible for the killing. None of them are assassinated, and none of them are killed accidentally. Whenever one of them is killed, whoever is responsible for their death fully intended to kill them or they meant to kill themselves. Antigone goes to bury her brother even though it is against the law. She is found by one of the guards and taken to Creon. “Take her away. You’re wasting time- you’ll pay for it too.” (Antigone ll. 1023- 1024) Creon says to the guards; he is responsible for killing Antigone and he is her uncle. Even more obvious is Oedipus when he kills his father, King Laius, when he is riding by in his carriage. While Oedipus didn’t know that the man in the carriage was his father, he fully intended to kill him.
I believe that since Oedipus has been exiled, his family has been left in distress and Creon turns against his daughters and punishes them for what Oedipus did. I think that that is a large part of why these terrible events occur, but too many things happen for it to be chance, so I think that fate is the reason. His sons kill each other fighting against one another, which never would have happened had Oedipus been there. Oedipus told Creon to look after his daughters, which he did not do. When Antigone was found to be the one who buried Polynices, Creon did not take pity on her and allow Polynices to be buried, but instead he declares that Antigone has committed an act of treason and must be executed. This leads Creon’s son, Haemon, to be filled with such anger that he argues with Creon. Haemon runs off and is found in the cave with a dead Antigone. He is so upset with his father and that his bride is dead that he kills himself. This leads Creon’s wife to kill herself, leaving his life destroyed in less than a day.
Fate caused all of this to happen because of the curse on the house of Oedipus. Oedipus, Creon and all of the others may have made the decisions themselves, but so many people end up dying at the hands of their family members and so many prophesies end up coming true that fate must have been involved.
