The play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles explores many aspects of humanity. One of these aspects is that of free will versus destiny. On one side Sophocles shows that each person has free will and is able to make their own choices. On the other hand, he comes down with the statement that no one can avoid their fate. This theme can be adequately shown by the suffering endured by Jocasta. Jocasta makes her first mistake using free will to avoid her fate later in the play. She explains to Oedipus that her first child was to kill her husband and marry her, and so she and the King decided to kill the child. "But his child has not been 3 days on this earth before the King pierced the baby's ankles and left him to die on a lonely mountainside"(Sophocles Scene II 245-247). In these lines it shows that Jocasta tried to escape her horrible fate by getting rid of the child. She is able to accomplish these actions by being driven by her own horrid fate; unable to accept her destiny she uses her free will to leave it behind. Jocasta uses her free will to avoid her destiny but does not realize it is something she can not escape. …show more content…
In most scenes with Jocasta she begs Oedipus to forget about his past, asking he only see his life now. "Why think of him! Forget this herdsman. Forget it all. This talk is a waste of time." (Sophocles Scene III 137-139). In this quote Jocasta goes as far to even say that anything the herdsman has to say is not worth anything. The reason she continuously begs Oedipus to forget his past is so she can try to forget her own destiny. In fear that the prophecy actually came true, Jocasta tries to derail Oedipus again and again on his trail of knowledge. Jocasta's goals is to hide Oedipus's past so that she will never know if the prophecy is