Oedipus Rex Fate Vs Free Will

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In Oedipus Rex, written by greek philosopher Sophocles, fate and free will are two very debatable causes of the events that unfold. People may argue over whether the outcome was predetermined or simply a result of the choices that Oedipus made in order to avoid what he thought his fate was. The truth however, is that the story unraveled the way it did because of a mixture of fate and destiny. Fate being the end result and reason that the oracles knew what would happen but Oedipus’ own free will that brought him to his fate. Oedipus deals with fate in all of the end results of his situations, such as killing his father and sleeping with his mother. Oedipus is making his own decisions when he takes actions to avoid what he believes is destined…show more content…
The first time that Oedipus is told his fate it is that “[he] should defile [his] mother's bed And raise up seed too loathsome to behold, And slay the father from whose loins [he] sprang”(Sophocles, 951). This is what has to have happened to Oedipus regardless of the actions he took in order to avoid it or make it reality, this would be the outcome. He inevitably did marry his mother and kill his father just as was predicted, proving that it was fate. Another prophecy told in Oedipus Rex is told to Laius and Jocasta, and that prophecy is that they will have a son “who [will kill] his father, who left her to conceive cursed children with that son” (Sophocles, 1498). This prophecy is saying that Laius and Jocasta’s son will one day kill Laius and impregnate Jocasta. This fate also comes true and not only because of efforts to prevent it. Laius and Jocasta attempt to prevent it by having their son killed, which contributes to the events, but the shepherd that their son was given to did not try to prevent these events when he gave the child away. Free will was a large factor in the death of Laius and the wedding of Oedipus and Jocasta but the reason that these events ended when way they did is because they were fated to do
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