Free Will In Oedipus The King

There were three great writers of tragedy with respect to Greek literature. They are Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Sophocles had a firm belief in fate but he also considers free will. He did not stick only to fate like Aeschylus. “Fate is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. It is a concept based on the belief that there is a fixed natural order to the cosmos.”
“Free Will is the freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention. It is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action.”
“Oedipus the King” is the classical drama written by one of the most famous playwright Sophocles. It is a tragic play. The question which arises after reading the play is that was Oedipus a victim of fate or free will? There is a fundamental relation between fate …show more content…
He felt pity for the infant. So, instead of killing that baby, shepherd informed about that child to the messenger and messenger took him to the king of Corinth (Polybius) and his wife Merope. The King and Queen of Corinth did not have children so they decided to adopt that child. It was the fate of Oedipus that from one royal family he was given away and was adopted by another one.
When Oedipus grew up he somehow heard that he was not the son of King of Corinth. So, he decided to leave. It was not acceptable to him to live in a doubt that the people with whom he had been living were not his actual parents.
After he left Corinth he decided to make his own life. He was on his away and there he saw a caravan. His life there was at risk. So instead of getting afraid he in order to save his own life killed everyone there. His father was also there in that caravan so he was also killed. And this how the prophecy that was given years back by Apollo turned out to be