What are the questions that underlie at least two of the works that you have read and how have the authors sought to answer those questions?
A question present within both "The Wild Duck" and "Oedipus" seems to be one pertaining to the inability of man to control his fate. This becomes apparent when Oedipus discovers that he is the cause of his suffering, and when Hjalmar becomes aware of the fact that his daughter is not truly his.
In "Oedipus", Oedipus results to be his own undoing. His persistent and determined nature lead him to discover an already established fate. When one examines the play in its entirety, we realize that had Oedipus not looked for the murderer, he still would have found the answer eventually. Sophocles establishes the idea that one may not stray from his destiny, as one's own nature will ultimately betray them and lead them to discovery.
We see that Sophocles fully supports this idea, because even a character as perfect and idealized as Oedipus encounters his undoing. His seemingly flawless and ideal characteristics are what lead him to this undoing, and there is no way he could have gotten around his fate, because of his personality that was already established.
Sophocles also seems to be saying that even the most perfect man may be destroyed by his own hand, although he may not suspect it and may be adored by all. Sophocles answers the original question by having Oedipus find out his own fate because of his own persistence and determined self.
In "The Wild Duck", Ibsen creates this loss of control within the protagonist, Hjalmar, by having him discover that his daughter, Hedvig, is not truly his daughter. The loss of control by the father of a family symbolizes the loss of control over his destiny. He is no longer even able to control something which he thought completely belonged to him, something that should righteously be only his. Ibsen uses the symbol of a family in order to portray the inability to control fate because it shows the complete loss of control.
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