Oedipus The King: Fate Versus Free Will

The argument of fate versus free will has existed for many centuries. It is whether the events that happen in life are predetermined, or that people cause the events that take place in their life with their actions. In the myth Oedipus Rex this argument takes the place of the theme for the entire story. In this story fate governs everything, and it describes how helpless the characters are to it. Fate is the idea that no matter what a person does in their life, the output will be the same. That even if you take steps in order to prevent your fate from coming true those steps will only ensure that it is to happen. This argument has started many religions, all to answer the question that if we don’t control what happens in our life, then who

Throughout the story there are several key examples of this: if Laius hadn’t had a child then his fate wouldn’t have come true, if the messenger hadn’t saved Oedipus as a baby then his fate wouldn’t have come true, if Oedipus hadn’t left his village after he heard his fate then his fate wouldn’t have come true. Another theme of Oedipus Rex is a character’s past actions coming back to haunt them in ways that they couldn’t have perceived in the past. If Oedipus had not killed the random men at the crossroads then he would have never blinded himself

There is one theme though that doesn’t change, and is present from the start. That theme is the idea of fate versus free will. In the start of the play fate versus free will is present in the form of Oedipus’s past mistakes coming back to haunt him. In the end of the play fate versus free will is present in the form of Laius and Jocasta’s choice not to listen to their fate comes back to haunt both them and Oedipus. Fate does in fact govern everything in Oedipus Rex but it doesn’t in the way that most people might think it would. It governs everything based off of character’s choices after learning of their fate. If those characters believe that their fate will come true but still do whatever it is that they were not supposed to do them they are trapped, but if they heed their destiny they can live their life in peace. As such this story doesn’t put us any closer to deciding upon which idea is