Role of Fate in Oedipus Rex and The SeagullThe inevitability of fate is a key theme in Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex" and Chekhov's "The Seagull". I was fascinated by how this inevitability was conveyed by Chekhov and Sophocles respectively and how the characters' actions contributed to and intensified their fate. I will try to compare and contrast how Oedipus and to a lesser extent Nina make their fate more unbearable with their own actions and choices. In each case the author uses characterization to strengthen and increase the sense of inevitability and therefore the sense of tragedy in their respective works. Sophocles created his Oedipus not as innately evil but as a sympathetic character. This is what makes the conclusion of his work even more tragic.[1] If Oedipus had been presented as an evil character we would have felt much less sympathetic towards him, since Oedipus appears to be the very essence of goodness at the beginning of the play and in this way makes his downfall due to the realization of the truth. even more dramatic. He is an "ideal king", one who has compassion for his people. This addition to a well-known story by Sophocles makes the resulting dramatic irony extremely effective. His obvious character flaws make it plausible that he may have unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. He is human but at the beginning of the play his excessive pride, impetuosity and efficiency, all human flaws, seem to obscure and divert his search for the truth. Furthermore, he is arrogant and presumptuous, especially regarding his personal successes: "Oedipus: Why, when the monster with his song was here, did you not say a word to our countrymen to help? Yet the riddle was above of our understanding... and asked for the prophet's ability... but then I came... and killed her." These personality traits of Oedipus inevitably lead him to assume that he, the great Oedipus, liberator of his people, could not be the murderer they seek. Thus, it is Oedipus' inflated ego that makes his fate so grave and his fall so great at the end of the play. Furthermore, despite Tiresias' words at the beginning of the play, Oedipus refuses to believe the truth that he is responsible for Laius' death. His arrogance leads him to unknowingly curse himself, thus worsening his fate: