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Examples Of Free Will In Oedipus Rex

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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

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And so they send their child to be killed. It is clear that Laius does this out of fear and in order to protect his life. However, Jocasta does this not out of fear for her husband's life but out of fear of what will happen to her if he is killed. If he does Jocasta would have nothing. Therefore in order to protect herself she must keep Laius alive, so she sacrifices her child.

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However, they do not ensure the death of their son by murdering him themselves. Although the intent was to kill Oedipus, Jokasta and Laius are attempting to avoid the natural inclination to feel guilty for the direct death of their son. Similarly, the shepherd’s decision to give Oedipus a second chance at life demonstrates a human inability to show violence towards something innocent, such as a young child. Furthermore, Oedipus’ denial upon learning that the death of the king was his own doing, demonstrates human ignorance. As human beings it is often hard to be told we are wrong or that the decisions we have made in life have led to severe consequences.

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Sophocles ' play “Oedipus the King,” unwraps the complex nuances of a personality from one of its main characters, a woman called; Jocasta. It has to be noted that even though the play is a fictionalized version, it is something that has its roots in historic documents as well. With regards to many of the scholars who have been studying ancient Greek history, it has been noted that Jocasta was living in a time that was perhaps two or three generations before the Trojan War. She is mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey as the mother of Oedipus.

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In the playwright “Oedipus the King”, by Sophocles, the protagonist Oedipus has learned that his prophecy is destined for him to marry his mother Jocasta

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The Life of Oedipus: Fate or Freewill? no matter what movie, play, or book you are following the story of, it is always apparent that there is a hero with fate or destiny; some controlled by a predetermined prophecy said by a higher spiritual power like gods. The best example to make would be to that of religion during the middle ages where people used the principle of Ockham's Razor to blame religion and Gods for random events, such as plagues, sudden deaths, famines or natural disasters. A story like Oedipus Rex makes you ponder whether or not fate can eventually be moralized into free will and how much control the Gods really have on a a individual. It was common to assume that once a God prophesied a person’s life, there would be absolutely no self-control and life would go exactly according to the prophecy.

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No more! My pain is hard enough. May you never learn who you are” (47). This portrays how Jocasta wants to prevent Oedipus from learning the truth, thus inducing his blindness. It is likely that Jocasta does this in order to protect Oedipus because her blindness ultimately led to her downfall and death.

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Once Oedipus found out about the killing of his father and marrying of his mother, everything goes downhill. Jocasta hangs herself after finding out about her son also being her husband and her son killing her past husband. Oedipus finds her and gouges his eyes out. These events led up to Creon taking over as king and exiling Oedipus soon after his request to be exiled. The few interactions led up to the expulsion of the main character, Oedipus.

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