FATE IN SOPHOCLES’ OEDIPUS REX AND OLA ROTIMI’S THE GODS ARE NOT TO BLAME: A COMPARATIVE EXPLORATION

Abstract

Determinism is a philosophical view or theory which postulates that all events in the universe, including human decisions and actions, are casually inevitable. The two plays Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and Rotimi's The Gods are not to Blame are based on issues of fate and destiny in human life. The playwrights vividly portray the influences of the supernatural in the affairs of human beings here on earth despite the culture and clime involved. Thus, man in is his journey on earth faces serious challenges from both seen and unseen forces that tend to alter the course of events in his earthly journey towards living a purposeful life. In these plays, Sophocles and Rotimi explore the errors of judgment that negatively affect man in his actions, inactions and decisions. This paper, therefore, sets out to establish that these plays are both tragedies, though one is the original text while the other is a mere adaptation and transposition-Sophocles' Oedipus Rex is a classical Greek tragedy adapted into the Nigerian nay African cosmology by Ola Rotimi as The Gods are not to Blame. This paper also seeks to establish the fact that despite the social, political and cultural differences in the two plays, there are similarities in the treatment of the theme of fate and destiny, the role of oracles in the affairs of man and the use of characters or heroes from noble background.