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People do not like to believe they are puppets on strings, as free will is more fun, exciting and empowering. But sadly it does not matter what people think, for their futures have already been decided. Especially if you are a hero, chances are, your destiny has already been made. As dramatic and mystical as it may sound, but fate overpowers free will. No matter what route one takes, and what type of extreme measure a person is willing to go through, if it is ones destiny to achieve something or lose something or do something, they will do it. However, free will does have a role to play.

Sophocles explores the role of fate in his reputable play, Oedipus the King, as an unseen power that controls the lives of the characters. He depicts fate as a force against free will. Although some may disagree, saying that one chooses their own fate or that one’s fate is only determined by the choices they make, it is hard to argue over something we have very little or zero control over, that being, fate. In the story, Jocasta and Laius, a queen and King from ancient Greece, found out they were going to have a son. But they did not know from the moment Jocasta became pregnant, fate had already decided what was to happen to him. Before he was even born, Oedipus was destined to kill his father and marry his own mother. Despite his parent’s attempt to kill him as a baby and Oedipus himself running from his fate, the result remained unchanged. Fate used everybody and made them all play a part in the tragedy. Even without the actions of Oedipus’ parents, Tiresias, and the gods, Oedipus still would have killed his father and married his mother. Although the blame from the tragedy of Oedipus could fall on many different people, ultimately fate is at fa...

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...e Gods as he thought of himself to be just as powerful, and that he figured by revealing his destiny, which he was told not to meddle with, he did what he had done to himself.

Fate and free will, both play their roles in Oedipus Rex, to show how a person is bound by the destiny set for them. Yet it is the actions chosen out of free will that progress ever so slightly to seal fate. Oedipus, destined for tragedy, made all his choices across the entire play through reason and thought, completely aware that the decisions he made were his, and his alone. However, what was fated had come to pass in the end. So what is free will truly? Is it having control over the outcome of events in life, or is it simply the control of self until an outcome is reached? We’ve always treated fate and free will as antonyms, but perhaps they are two entirely different things to begin with.