The Prophecies between the Works of Macbeth, Sophocles I, and Sundiata - Essay Example

World Literature December 11, The Prophecies between the Works of Macbeth, Sophocles I (Oedipus the king), and Sundidata In many work of literature, Prophecies are often used as plot devices to motivate the characters and to swing them into action or inaction. It gives the reader and the characters, the glimpse of the future. It also often times drive the characters towards their goals or towards madness to fulfill the prophecies. Prophecy is a central part of Oedipus the King, Macbeth and Sundiata. All the three works are written by different writer at different times but their use of prophesies all linked them together. Oedipus the King is an Athenian tragedy written by Sophocles and it is believed to be first performed at around 429 BCE. In this tragedy play, the central character is fated to murder his father and marry his mother. The play revolves around prophecies and how the characters try to avoid fate. Macbeth is a tragedy play written by Shakespeare sometime between 1603 and 1607. In Macbeth, the central character tries to fulfill the prophesy revealed to him by the witches that he one day shall rule the Thane of, Glamis, Cawdor, and become king. Macbeth did everything in his power to fulfill the prophesies foretold by the witches, which eventually led to his destruction and downfall. The Epic of Sundiata is an epic poem of the Malinke people. The poem tells the story of Sundiata Keita who was the founder of the Mali Empire. It is a rich tale which tells the story of Sundiata being part of a prophecy and how he overcomes his physical disabilities to rule over the kingdom. In this epic poem, prophecy plays a central role throughout the story. In all the three works - Oedipus the King, Macbeth and Sundidata the purpose of the use of prophecies is ordinarily to set the themes of the story.  In the play Sophocles I (Oedipus the king), the writer illustrates the concept that trying to avoid the predictions of the prophet is futile. In the play, there are three main prophecies: The first one is the prophecy made to Laius on the details about his death by the hands of his own son. The second prophecy is made by Tiresias giving details about Oedipus on his discovery of the true murderer’s identity and the third one is directed to Oedipus foretelling his future action. In all the three prophecies given, the recipients of these predictions did everything in their power to avoid their fate, but they all eventually end up following the paths which destiny has in store for them. The concept of fate plays an integral part in the play. Although, Oedipus’ has the free will to do what is necessary to avoid the prophecies, it only brings to his downfall as he is destined from birth to kill his own father and marry his mother. From the time he was born he was controlled by his destiny. The prophecy foretold by the oracle of Apollo at Delphi was unconditional and Oedipus actions are controlled by his fate. When Laius received the news that doom would strike him by the hands of his own son, he tried to prevent the tragedy and to defame prophesy, he took his own son to be flung into the barren, trackless mountains. His mother thought that his son had died. But, it was not fated to be so, as prophesy foretold. A shepherd took the baby and gave him to the King and Queen of Corinth. Oedipus was thus raised as the son by the King Polybus and Queen Merope. Eventually, he grew up to be a man of courage and he indeed killed his own father and married his mother just the prophecy had revealed. In the play, the author illustrates again and again that the oracles are never wrong. This is also central to the belief of the Greeks that there is no way a person could escape his own fate. In Macbeth, written by Shakespeare, The central character, Macbeth takes the prophesies as his own fate and tries to make it come true. He believes in the prophecies given to him by the witches as his own destiny and he takes the matter in to his own hands to fulfill it. He is unsure of how the prophecies would come. The witches revealed to him that he would hold the Thane of, Glamis, Cawdor, and become king. “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis!All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” (Shakespeare). At first, his loyalty to his king and the doubt in his ability to be a king confused him “This supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill, why hath it given me earnest of success commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor” (Shakespeare).  But very soon, the witches’ prophecies made him ambitious and blinded to the reality. In the play, the witches’ prophecies play the central role as the characters revolve around it to make it come true. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth decide to take the revelation and take control of it. It makes them become corrupt as the idea of being a future king is too good to forsake. Macbeth seems to be consumed by the very thought of his future as the king and his transformation can be seen rapidly from his fear to desire. However, Macbeth did not fall victim to the prophecies from the very beginning, he again and again questions the very nature of the witches and their prophecies, “If good, why do I yield to that suggestion whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs against the use of nature? Present fears are less than horrible imaginings. My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical, shakes so my single state of man that function is smothered in surmise and nothing is but what is not.”(Shakespeare). But the flaws of human nature- desire, greed and jealousy soon make him fall victim to the witches’ prophecies. “The Epic of Sundiata” is an African tale of Sundiata being part of a prophecy. He overcomes his physical disabilities to rule the Kingdom of Mali. The tale of Sundiata is often retold from the perspective of griots. The groits have an important place in the African culture as they are referred to as the guardians of the people. This tales also relies heavily on the prophecies. Sundiata’s father, Maghan Kon Fatta was the ruler of Mali and he asked the fortune teller to reveal to him the future king. Much to the dismay of his first wife and to the surprise of everyone in the ceremony, the fortune teller revealed that his successor has not been born yet and that the heir to the throne will be delivered from a very ugly woman who will be brought to the king by two strangers. Sundiata was a weak crippled child. But, his father wanted to honor the prophecy and gave him the gift of the griot named Balla Fasseke. The king believed in the prophecy and overlooked the disabilities of Sundiata. Many people in the village were also skeptical about the ability of Sundiata but they still believed in the prophecy, "I really don't know what to think. Sundiata is such an intelligent boy. At times he talks just like an adult and I think that perhaps the prophecies are true. But whoever heard of a cripple king" (Niane). We can see that the villagers are indeed worried about physical disabilities, but at the same time, they also believed in the revelation. When the king died, his first son Dankaran Tuman, claimed the throne despite his father’s wish that they respected the prophecy. Dankaran Tuman refused his father’s dying wish but eventually, the prophecy came true and Sundiata reclaimed the throne from him to take his rightful place. In all the three works discussed above, prophecies played a central role. Although all the work differs in their use of the role of prophecies, it can be seen that they all believed in prophecies. In Sophocles I (Oedipus the king), the characters tried everything in their power to avoid the prophecies but eventually end up doing exactly what was foretold. Oedipus father was determined to push away the tragedies that were to come to them. But, on the other hand his determination backfired when he gave away his son to be killed. His son did survive the banishment and grew up to be a brave man who eventually killed his father and married his mother. If his father had not taken the matter to his own hands, he perhaps would have avoided all the prophecies. But, whatever he did has become the work of the prophecies as he is dealing with things lager than him. In this play, the central message is that fate and destiny cannot be avoided. In the work of Macbeth, unlike Sophocles I (Oedipus the king), the central characters did everything to make the prophecies come true. Macbeth schemed with his wife to claim what they thought was their rightful place as it was foretold by the witches. But, on the other hand, all their efforts and manipulation got them killed in the end. Here, the prophecies did not come true as the central characters took the matter in their own hands to deliver their own fate. In both of these work Macbeth and Sophocles I (Oedipus the king), we can see that people cannot avoid their fate and destiny. In The Epic of Sundiata, the characters tried to respect the prophecies. The king Maghan Kon Fatta, respected the prophecy foretold to him and he gave a griot to Sundiata, even though he was crippled. Here, the characters did not do much to avoid the prophecies, but they worked around it to make it come true. It gave Sundiata, the determination and his mother a hope that he would one day rule over the people and become a king despite his disabilities. The belief in the prophecies sealed that one’s fate is determined and nothing can be changed to fulfill his destiny. The beliefs in Prophets are common in all cultures in olden days as they believed in the role of fate and destiny. They played an important role in the society by informing the people about their fate and destinies, thus saving people from being mislead or misjudged. In work of literature, the role of prophecies revealed about the time in which they were written. In the work of Macbeth, Renaissance and Medieval played a heavy influence in the play. The Medieval communities celebrated the Christian salvation history and that may be one of the reasons why the witches’ prophecies only bring about pain and suffering for the central character without it being fulfilled. “Typically, Shakespearean tragedy involves misfortune, suffering and death. Exploring these patterns in Macbeth draws attention to dramatic structure, character  development , moral vision and audience response that together demonstrate not only Shakespeare's poetic inspiration and understanding of the human condition but also his dramatic tradition, including earlier classical and medieval influence and the thriving secular theater of his own time” (Nostbakken). At the same time, Sophocles I (Oedipus the king), also revealed a lot about the time it was written. The ancient Greece particularly in the 5th century struggled with religious beliefs as a result of humanism. Many leaders were proclaiming independent from the Gods and this can be seen in the way the Oedipus father tried to belittle and avoid the prophecy revealed to him. Similarly, in The Epic of Sundiata, we can see that the people were a believer in the prophecy and that they honored the fortune teller. This reflects their culture and beliefs of the people at that time. In all the three works - Oedipus the King, Macbeth and Sundidata the purpose of the use of prophecies is ordinarily to set the themes of the story. They all used prophecies as the central of the play but in different ways and they all revealed about the time in which they were written as well as the beliefs and values of the people at that time. Work Cited Muir, Kenneth. MACBETH, the Arden Shakespeare. Print. Niane, D. T. SUNDIDATA, An Epic of Old Mali. Print. Nostbakken, Faith. Understanding Macbeth: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical. Greenwood Press. 1997. Print.         Read More