Oedipus Rex Fate Vs Free Will Essay

It would not matter if Oedipus could save himself with solving his tragic flaw or not. Whether he was cool and calm or quick temper he would eventually end in the same fate. The story of Oedipus Rex is about the limits of free will. Where a prophecy of the son of Laius and Jocasta, king and queen of Thebes, foretells that he shall take place in his father’s death and will end up marrying his mother. There is no escape to this fate, but that does not mean that people do not try to escape from it anyway. In these futile attempts at changing what seems to be a prebuilt road, it questions whether the characters of the play are actually acting on their own free will and why did Sophocles make his characters try to avoid their prophecy instead of just accepting their fate.

Frequently throughout the story, the characters of Oedipus Rex seem to have a very hard time to get a task done their way.

Laius and Jocasta leave Oedipus nailed by his feet on a mountain, well there is a shepherd who luckily comes along to save him. Oedipus finds out that he will kill his father and marry his mother from an oracle of Delphi, in response, he runs away and meets up with his actual father. Whenever Oedipus or his family try to escape a prophecy, something always happens to make sure that it does not go the way they plan. This common occurrence happens specifically when an oracle foretells Oedipus and his family the child killing prophecy. Oracles are known to be words of gods or fate, so if Oedipus’ family constantly tries to avoid their fate, every single decision that they make is futile. In lines 390-391 Tiresias states, “No, for fate will not befall you at my doing; Apollo is enough, who works to see this done.” from this we know that there is not an uncertain force that controls fate. It is the gods who have control over the fate and therefore the story. The characters of Oedipus seem to be acting on their free will, but it is most likely it is fate that is in control of the

story.
Sophocles could have made the characters accept their fate, but instead chose to make them deny it and flee from it. It is human nature to want their own free will just as Laius and Jocasta wanted to decide their own future by their own decisions. Oedipus and his family continue to rebel against prophecy in order to have the satisfaction that they are living a life they choose to live. Having free will allows humans to feel like what they are doing is right.
On the other hand, people that accept having no free will and believe that the gods plan everything for them are brutally honest knowing that they have no control over their future. For instance, Tiresias on lines 466-467 says, “I will leave after I have said what I came to say, not fearing your face, for you cannot destroy me.” In this quote, Tiresias is not worried about his fate ending in the presence of Oedipus because he knows the future and that he will not die by Oedipus’ hand. These acts of rebel and acceptance of fate are both human natures that help engage the audience and in Sophocles’ time, was considered very important and popular themes.
Perhaps the story of Oedipus Rex is to show that we may have free will but there are other forces out there that can directly impact people’s lives. Whether fate is chosen
for us or not should not matter when it comes to the journey of it all. Life is crazy and as the Greeks in Sophocles’ time have said, “Call no man happy until he is dead.”