Free Will In Oedipus Rex

Fate: To Be or Not To Be People throughout history have always been interested in discovering what the future holds. Some even take a glimpse at their horoscope every morning in the newspaper to see what their fortune is for the day. This leads them to feel joy about what is to come, or try to escape the possibility of the worst case scenario. In Oedipus Rex, a large part of the play is focused on prophecies, where fate is inevitable. Oedipus had a hunger for the truth and was loyal to the people of Thebes. These characteristics reveal something other than fate, which is what made the play interesting from beginning to end: the power of having free will. Is Oedipus being controlled by the commands of the prophecy, or does Oedipus have a decision in how he meets his fate? There is always going to be a relation between the choices we make and the outcomes that happen because of them. Oedipus has internal conflict throughout the play because he wants to use free will to make decisions in effort to avoid his fate, and …show more content…
After they learned the prophecy that predicted Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother, the Queen had him sent to be killed. Little did they know, a shepherd rescued the infant and brought him to the city of Corinth so the prophecy would be less likely to be fulfilled. The King and Queen of Corinth took in Oedipus and raised him as their own. This left Oedipus in the dark when it came to his true upbringing and a drunken man made Oedipus question it himself. He then went to see an oracle who told him the same prophecy that his mother and father once heard. In order to avoid this prophecy from occurring, Oedipus traveled to Thebes to be away from what he thought to be his parents. This is the first example of his decision in avoiding the unfolding of the prophecy. By traveling from Corinth back to his original hometown of Thebes, he is allowing his fate to play out as