The Theme Of Fate Vs. Free Will In Oedipus Rex

What if you knew what was going to happen in your future ? You would try to avoid all the bad situations, right ?With you trying to avoid the bad situations you make choices that lead you to those bad situations happening. Exactly that happen in the story Oedipus Rex. In Oedipus Rex, Sophocles wanted to portray this tragedy of where Oedipus would grow older and kill his father and marry his mother. When Oedipus actual parents (Laius and Jocasta) heard the oracle, they sent Oedipus to another place so that way the oracle wouldn’t come true, but it was Oedipus fate to fulfill that oracle. No matter what choices would have been made, the prophecy eventually would have came true. Oedipus exemplifies the theme of fate v. free will because Oedipus …show more content…
Just before Oedipus made an extreme decision due to his fate, Jocasta realized that the man she was married to was her son and that the prophecy was fulfilled. Oedipus wanted to find out more about his parentage, but Jocasta did not want him to find out that he was married to his mother. Due to that, she hung herself so she would not have to deal with the agony of the situation. “ Snatching from her dress gold pins wherewith she was adorned, he lifted them, and smote the nerves of his own eyeballs, saying something like this - that they should see no more evils like those he had endured or wrought.” (Sophocles 45) This quote is significant because Oedipus made this extreme decision to take his eyeballs out (free will) due to the fact that he thought he stopped what was destined to happen but really did not. Because of this fate happening, he was not able to cope with how he thought he used free will to stop the prophecy.The actions that Oedipus made moved the plot and moral of the story forward by causing more events to dramatically change how the story continues. During this time Oedipus stabbed his eyes out. He and Creon (Jocasta’s brother) talked about Creon taking care of Oedipus daughters and burial for his wife. During that time Oedipus made another drastic decision to leave his family. “ Out of this country cast me with …show more content…
Due to his fate he made decisions that were very extreme like, taking his eyes out of his head and leaving his family. The moral of the story is that the conflicts of free will and fate caused Oedipus not to be in control of his destiny and make decisions that would impact his life. Fate and free will plays a major role in in this play. Sometimes it can be good and sometimes it can be bad. In this case for Oedipus it was bad. Think about it, Would you really try to stop fate if you know it's going to eventually happen