Student Name:
World Literature 212
Fall 2020
Thuddeus Ratkowski
October 15, 2020
Midterm Exam
Quote identification: A
The work is If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho. It was first published in 550 BC but was recently published in 2003 by Virago (Sappho). The work was originally written by Sappho in Greek but has since been translated by Anne Carson, a poet, and classicist. The significance of this particular quote is it wonderfully mirrors the process of comforting a weeping person, which is initiated by the fullness of talking and crying, much movement of hands and words, and it grows into a quitter, less verbal state. The quiet rhythm spaces between the phrases are like the touch of a soft hand stroking the back of a person whose weeping was followed by silence or a few brave hiccups. It gains more effectiveness from the fact that it is not even at the end of the poem. There is an aspect of continuation, of remembering, the comforting rendered both with words and without words. The quote relays the human emotion of grief, despair hopelessness. It shows the depths of defeat that a human being can hit that they totally give up on everything. There is the lack of a reason to live or to hold on to life drawn from the fact that the person with hurt say they do not understand how badly things have turned out for us. The word ‘us’ shows that there are two people in the conversation who are so familiar with each other that the person talking is comfortable being vulnerable around them and talking of their deepest fears.
Discuss the theme of fate versus free will in Sophocles’ tragic play, Oedipus the King. How much of what happens to Oedipus is fate, and how much of what happens to Oedipus is the result of his own free will? Do you think Oedipus makes mistakes when he exercises his free will? What turns out to be stronger in the play, fate, or free will? Include quotes, with line citations, to support your statements
The ancient Greeks believed that their gods could foretell the future and that certain people could access this information before relaying it to the concerned persons. The people who had access to that information were prophet or seers like blind Tiresias who saw visions of things to come. Oracles, priests, and other people who lived at the temples of gods such as the oracle to Apollo at Delphi were also believed to have the power to interpret visions sent by gods and give prophecies to people who sought to know the future. In Oedipus Rex, there are two prophecies. The first one is the prophecy received by King Laius of Thebes, which was that he would have a son by Queen Jocasta who would grow up to kill his own father. The second prophecy is the one which Oedipus received was that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Lauis, Jocasta, and Oedipus all commit to preventing these prophecies from coming to pass, but their efforts to prevent those prophecies are what causes them to happen to their completion (Sophocles). The question that arises is whether Oedipus has a choice over anything that happens in his life. He ends up killing his father and marrying his mother without his knowledge. All these fulfill the prophecies amidst his efforts to run away from them.
“OEDIPUS
Let the storm burst, my fixed resolve still holds,
To learn my lineage, be it ne’er so low.
It may be she with all a woman’s pride
Thinks scorn of my base parentage. But I
Who rank myself as Fortune’s favorite child,
The giver of good gifts, shall not be shamed.
She is my mother and the changing moons
My brethren, and with them I wax and wane.
Thus sprung why should I fear to trace my birth?
Nothing can make me other than I am. (1077-1086)”
While Oedipus’s fate of killing his father and sleeping with his mother is sealed, he only learns that he has fulfilled his fate through persistent searching. Therefore, it is his fault that the tragedy is discovered, not the fault of fate.
Free will in this case speaks to the ability to choose one’s own path. Everything in Oedipus the King, seems predetermined. Jocasta argues that the oracles are a sham because she thinks that the prediction that her son would kill her husband never came to pass. When she finds out otherwise, she kills herself.
“JOCASTA
Then thou mayest ease thy conscience on that score.
Listen and I’ll convince thee that no man
Hath scot or lot in the prophetic art.
Here is the proof in brief. An oracle
Once came to Laius (I will not say
‘Twas from the Delphic god himself, but from
His ministers) declaring he was doomed
To perish by the hand of his own son,
A child that should be born to him by me.
Now Laius–so at least report affirmed–
Was murdered on a day by highwaymen,
No natives, at a spot where three roads meet.
As for the child, it was but three days old,
When Laius, its ankles pierced and pinned
Together, gave it to be cast away
By others on the trackless mountain side.
So then Apollo brought it not to pass
The child should be his father’s murderer,
Or the dread terror find accomplishment,
And Laius be slain by his own son.
Such was the prophet’s horoscope. O king,
Regard it not. Whate’er the god deems fit
To search, himself unaided will reveal. (707-725)”
Jocasta denies the accuracy of prophecies, but ironically uses another true prophecy to defend her claim.
In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus falls into his own fate and fulfills a prophecy of long ago. One could argue that he has free will which could be true because he decides to pursue facts about his past despite many suggestions that he lets it go. This argument can be further supported by the fact that Oedipus’s destruction arises not from his deeds but from his persistent efforts to learn the truth, through which he encounters the true nature of those terrible deeds. At the end of the play, Oedipus argues that his terrible deeds were an outcome of fate. The only thing that he chose out of free will was to go blind.
“OEDIPUS
And thou shalt not be frustrate of thy wish.
Now my imaginings have gone so far.
Who has a higher claim that thou to hear
My tale of dire adventures? Listen then.
My sire was Polybus of Corinth, and
My mother Merope, a Dorian;
And I was held the foremost citizen,
Till a strange thing befell me, strange indeed,
Yet scarce deserving all the heat it stirred.
A roisterer at some banquet, flown with wine,
Shouted “Thou art not true son of thy sire.”
It irked me, but I stomached for the nonce
The insult; on the morrow I sought out
My mother and my sire and questioned them.
They were indignant at the random slur
Cast on my parentage and did their best
To comfort me, but still the venomed barb
Rankled, for still the scandal spread and grew.
(771-788)”
For a man who doesn’t believe in fate now, Oedipus demonstrated a lot of faith in prophecy when he was younger.
Further, he argues that while it is impossible to avoid one’s fate, how one responds to it is a matter of free will.
“TEIRESIAS
I go, but first will tell thee why I came.
Thy frown I dread not, for thou canst not harm me.
Hear then: this man whom thou hast sought to arrest
With threats and warrants this long while, the wretch
Who murdered Laius–that man is here.
He passes for an alien in the land
But soon shall prove a Theban, native born.
And yet his fortune brings him little joy;
For blind of seeing, clad in beggar’s weeds,
For purple robes, and leaning on his staff,
To a strange land he soon shall grope his way.
And of the children, inmates of his home,
He shall be proved the brother and the sire,
Of her who bare him son and husband both,
Co-partner, and assassin of his sire.
Go in and ponder this, and if thou find
That I have missed the mark, henceforth declare
I have no wit nor skill in prophecy. (444-461)”
Teiresias expresses confidence in his ability to prophecy. While Oedipus wavers in his will, Teiresias remains firm. This is a representation of the strength of fate over the weakness of man.
Works Cited
Oedipus the King. By Sophocles. Perf. Oedipus, et al. Theatre of Dionysus, Athens. 429 BC.
Sappho. If, Not Winter: Fragments of Sappho.