Free Will In Oedipus The King

What is fate? Fate is considered to be a course of events in which are predetermined and unchangeable fate; as to where free will is the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or the ability to act at one's own discretion. “Oedipus the King” is a story produced upon fate. Three examples of fate in the story is that he gets saved after being left to die to be able to escape his so called destiny, him meeting and killing his father unknowingly knowing it's him, and him marrying and sleeping with his mother not knowing who she really is. During the play Oedipus tries to prevent committing the two worst crimes that at the time you could commit, incest and patricide. At the beginning of the play Oedipus doesn't believe that his prophecy

Many of the unwanted infants were left to die on Mount Cithaeron. Oedipus had his feet pinned together to be hung by a stick and eaten my a sphinx, which is a monster. With Oedipus his fate intervened putting the shepherd that was, at the time, sent to hang him, to save him only out of pity. Ironically this saved his life but ruined it later on within the story. Lines 820-828, “that it was fate that he should die a victim at the hands of his own son….King Laius pierced his ankles and by the hands of others cast him forth upon a pathless hillside.” Those lines showed how he tried to escape his fate, but was

King Laius has sympathy from very little people, but he did however get scared when they told him his son’s prophecy. Could it be a coincidence that Oedipus runs into his father unknowingly knowing it's him? Oedipus had a very bad temper. That temper grew quickly as a carriage hit his at the three-way crossroads, thus making him kill Laius and his men. French Proverb once stated “you often meet your fate on the road you take to avoid it.” Oedipus tried avoiding his fate which actually led his to his fate. In line 1353, you can see Herdman telling Oedipus his prophecy which is that he shall kill his father. As you can see this is a sign fate because Oedipus had no free will no choosing whether or not to meet and kill his father. He thought that he had beaten his fate, but as it turns out he was just getting started with it.

Coincidence only plays a minor part in the relationship between Jocasta and Oedipus. Perhaps back then Oedipus’s Prophecy was just a common prophecy for everyone in the kingdom. Jocasta has believed that her husband had been killed by a band of thieves. It was fate that they were brought together and incest was done by the two. Jocasta is the first to realize that Oedipus is actually her son that she has thought to have died on Mount