Oedipus The King Fate Vs Free Will Research Paper

535 Words3 Pages
It is said to believe that the ancient Greek gods could predict the outcomes of man, but did they predict correctly the outcome of Oedipus the King. This takes us to fate vs. free will, which is a very strong and recurring theme throughout the play. Although, both fate and free will can be argued as the downfall of Oedipus. In the beginning, Oedipus has sent Creon to see the oracle and try to rid Thebes of its plague. But after his trip, the rest of the play takes a drastic turn. When Oedipus learns that in order to cure Thebes he must find the killer of the previous ruler, Laius. He sends someone to find the killer, but once he learns of the truth he starts to question his own existence. It wasn’t until later, that we learned of the prophecy of Oedipus the King. It is prophesied that Oedipus is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. For this reason, his parents Laius and Jocasta tied his ankles together, and they sent the baby to the mountains to die. This action is done to prevent the prophecy from coming true. This act of Laius and Jocasta reflects a choice of free will. However fate sees the prophecy being undone, so the child is saved and taken in by Polybus and Merope of Corinth. A messenger sent by Oedipus from Corinth tells this to Oedipus.…show more content…
The fleeing of Oedipus acts as him using his free will, but he believed that Polybus and Merope were his real parents. From this point I realized that fate was inevitable, and Oedipus is going on the path from which he his running from. Also Oedipus’s choice to look in to the murder of the previous king is fate in action. The determination Oedipus thinks is his own in the search of Laius’s killer is powered by fate and he knows that the oracles words were
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