When Oedipus was made the king and was given the privilege to marry Jocasta, there was a conflict between the will of God and human volition, reason and irrationalism and fate and human agency as the Thebans actually thought they were rewarding Oedipus for eliminating the Sphinx, not knowing that it was actually the will of the gods for this to happen as they played a part in determining the fate of Oedipus (Sophocles et al).
Oedipus eventually killed his own father thus fulfilling the prophecy and the fact that he actually believed that Laius and his followers were a band of robbers does not mean he had a good reason to take the law into his hands by killing him and this shows the conflict between reason and irrationalism as he thought he actually had a good reason to kill Laius, but he was actually irrational. Another thing that represented a conflict between reason and irrationalism was when Oedipus like his father tried to avert his fate by running away from Corinth when he heard that he was going to kill his own father as he tried to use his own human means to stop his destiny not knowing that he was actually walking into it. One detail in Oedipus the King that seems to be intertwined between reason and irrationalism, fate and human agency and human volition and the will of gods is the events that led to the usurpation of power by Oedipus. Oedipus believed that he could do anything as he so pleased and this was the reason for most of his actions. When all evidence was against him that he was the one that murdered Laius, he quickly blamed Tiresias of hatching the plot to kill Laius and blamed Creon for conspiring to steal his crown and throne (Sophocles et al). Another thing that Oedipus was guilty of in the play was his quickness to blame other people for the problems that he actually caused. This is actually pride as it is only the gods that have the sole right to answer prayers and Oedipus was arrogant and proud to have put himself in the place of the gods. Oedipus’ pride was seen when he told the Chorus that he could grant their prayers of deliverance. It could be argued that Oedipus regarded himself as a god as this was the only justifiable reason that he spat the gods. Oedipus allowed his bravery and intelligence to get to his head forgetting that it was the gods that bestowed him with such qualities to benefit the city of Thebes as a whole in the first place. One noticeable weakness in the character of Oedipus was pride. This strength was clear for all to see when he solved the riddle of the Sphinx close to the beginning of the play (Sophocles et al). Oedipus the King also had the ability to unravel mysteries. In spite of the fact that the Sphinx threatened to kill anyone that fails the riddle, Oedipus was still courageous and confident of himself that he would solve the puzzle. Though this has nothing to do with morality, the truth is that it was Oedipus’ courage and self-confidence that made him solve the puzzle of the Sphinx. One of the virtues that Oedipus possessed is self-confidence and courage. Though Oedipus had some bad sides, the fact remains that he had some virtues that should be extolled. The people had fate in him as their king as he was accepted by them as their king. He played the role of a savior that came to save the people from their oppressors. Oedipus saved the city of Thebes from their adversaries. He is also a very confident and courageous king and this was due to power that he wielded as the king of Thebes. The first impression that readers would have of King Oedipus is to see him as a valiant hero. The character of King Oedipus is something that actually flows well with the plot and theme of the play. Call him the hero or the villain in the Oedipus play by Sophocles, but the fact remains that King Oedipus is the protagonist of the play.
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