Fate Vs. Free Will In Sophocles Oedipus Rex

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In 430 B.C around when drama first came to be, Sophocles wrote the play Oedipus Rex, a story of the great king of Thebes who killed his own father and took his mother to bed. A baffling tale of fate and incest that surprises all who read it. Many wonder why he would write such a morbid play; it’s main character made to do foul things without knowing and later coming to realize his dirty deeds and be haunted by them. Did Sophocles have a point to prove? A lesson to teach?
The play seems to play with the theme of Fate VS Free Will, a dilemma people may have been mulling over in that time; the play a (slightly exaggerated) reflection of a challenge present in that society. The strongest of human impulses is the drive for survival, set in our nature.
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A witnesses of the murder is found but refuses to speak and holds on to the truth, fearing the wrath of Oedipus should he mention his name negatively. He does however speak up, aligning all the clues to point at Oedipus. He does not share the truth with his daughters to protect them, wanting them to continue living their lives unhindered by their father’s deeds.
Oedipus and other characters all really suffer from fate and knowledge but the difference was; Oedipus acted with good intentions his parents used selfishly wished to protect themselves and not their child. Inevitably the choice they made brought them their doom. Now finally the question is: What significance could this have to the person watching/reading this play?
I believe Sophocles felt the need to warn his audience not to tamper with fate, or their own attempt at understanding it. If it is meant to be it will be so let it be. Live life naturally, overcoming obstacles as they come. In their religion, the Greeks were faithful to the gods, and those gods decided their fate; but it was the people who eventually lived that fate. It is to be seen as a more as collaborative effort; the people live but the gods allow them several paths to follow depending on how each individual reacts to an obstacle. It’s up to them if their people survive but the people decide how they
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She had the choice to wait it out until the actual danger had come to pass. Oedipus is the victim of Jocasta’s foolishness, trying to devise her own path which eventually lead to the pre-perceived fate she was trying to escape. If only she had faith in Apollo; that what he had planned for her had purpose.
Oedipus fell into the same hole when he too tried to avoid what he thought was his fate. If only he’d asked whether or not the people who raised him were truly his parents. Opportunities to change their life journeys presented themselves several times to these characters but none chose to take them.
Sophocles also seems to relay some sympathy to those who don’t make decisions wisely and shows what he understands to be human nature; the desperate need for a state of stability and control. Uncertainty threatens this state and when things go awry, survival no longer guaranteed or the wellbeing long damaged, we seek to bear with the reality as best as we see fit; Jocasta choosing to commit suicide and Oedipus choosing to slash out his own eyes. We all seek to lighten the blow; an attempt to swing once more at the bittersweet battle of

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