Oedipus Rex Fate Vs Free Will

In Oedipus Rex, it seems as if mortals have no control over their own lives. During most of Ancient Greek civilization, people believed in the fates and prophecies from the gods. But, during the era of Oedipus Rex, society begins to question the god’s predictions . But still, most characters’ lives are shaped, and revolve around the fates given to them by the oracles and gods. Due to Ancient Greeks’ beliefs in prophecies, the crimes and related acts that Oedipus commits voids him of all guilt. Throughout much of Oedipus’s adulthood, his proper biological parents remained a mystery. This lack of knowledge would prove to cause unescapable negative impacts on his life. First, as a young child, a wise old man informed Oedipus that he would eventually kill his biological father and sleep with his biological mother. Due to Greek ideals, this prophecy was destined to become true and a mortal human

Now years later, Oedipus seeks the help of oracles to try to solve the curse lingering in the city of Thebes. Once more, a blind prophet named Tiresias gives Oedipus an eerily similar prophecy as the one given to Oedipus as a child. Tiresias tells Oedipus, “To the children whom he lives with now he will be brother and father -- the very same; to her who bore him, son and husband -- the very same who came to his father’s bed, wet with his father’s blood” (Sophocles 25). In essence, Tiresias informs Oedipus that he himself previously killed King Laius, who is Oedipus’s actual biological father. In addition, Tiresias tells Oedipus that he will sleep with his own birth mother. This similar outcome does concern Oedipus, but Jocasta assures him that the gods’ predictions displayed inconsistencies in the past. Oddly enough, Jocastas evidence of this involves her