本論文旨在研究悲劇中英雄違抗神諭—即拒絕神諭、徵兆、預言、神靈、及先知。在梭佛克里斯之《伊底帕斯王》和《伊底帕斯在科羅那斯》及莎士比亞之《哈姆雷特》和《馬克白》中,英雄為其尊榮權貴而向神靈及先知挑戰。 在《伊底帕斯王》劇裡,預言必定應驗也意味著命運終會實現。在《伊底帕斯在科羅那斯》劇裡,伊底帕斯不再與神明對立,終於成為神話英雄。 哈姆雷特曾一度反抗鬼魂所託付之任務,但終為其父報仇。其特殊的身份及鬼魂的託付使他成為命運的俘虜。在《馬克白》劇裡,馬克白的政治野心使他不斷地信任巫婆,最後他照字面解釋幽靈的話語而導致滅亡,他真是巫婆及神靈之玩物。 This dissertation examines the hero’s disdain of augury including the refusal of signs, oracles, prophecies, spirits or seers to speak of the future. In Sophocles’ Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus and Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth, the heroes challenge the gods and the prophets in order to claim their own values. In Oedipus the King, the oracle which is bound to prove true appears to suggest a destiny which is bound to be fulfilled. In Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus becomes a collaborator with Apollo instead of being an opponent of the divine. In this play, it presents us with the heroization of Oedipus, who blesses friends and curses enemies. Like young Oedipus, Hamlet resists a fate imposed by an authority that he questions. Hamlet has his revenge not in murder but in effective use of language. Being subject to his birth, fastened by Claudius, and commanded by the ghost, Hamlet is the captive of his fate. In Macbeth, Macbeth’s political ambition causes him to cooperate and continue trusting the witches until the final scene. He takes the apparitions’ equivocal words literally and is misled into disaster. He is the plaything of supernatural powers.