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Free Will In Oedipus The King

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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 …show more content…

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 …show more content…

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

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Upon receiving the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother, he unquestioningly embraced its validity without challenging it. However, if he employed his common knowledge and free will, the course of events might have been altered. For instance, he tragically killed Laius in a dispute that could have been avoided with restraint. Additionally, when tasked with uncovering the murderer of the former king of Thebes, Oedipus willingly accepted the challenge, firmly believing it was his destiny to expose the killer and save his city. Unfortunately, his unwavering trust in fate and blind devotion to prophecies ultimately led to his downfall.

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On his journey to get away from whom he thought were his parents, Oedipus kills a group of men. Oedipus is blind to the fact that one of the men was King Laius, who he will later learn was his father. Although the very poor and cruel decisions that Oedipus and Jocasta make ultimately lead them to their fate, they were blind to the extent of most of their decisions.

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Jocasta tells him about his childhood, saying, “three days old and the boy’s father… had a henchman fling him away.” (201 790). No one was able to change his fate, so Laius wanted Oedipus killed the third day he was born. Because his future is set, he will be in situations he isn’t able to control. Though he still has a sense of behavior, it will not change his outcome.

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Oedipus kills all the men in the coach: an old man and three others. The old man in the carriage was his father, King Laius. It is an unlikely coincidence that Oedipus should meet his father on the road and even more improbable that his father would unknowingly attack his own son, and the son would then kill him. Oedipus does not know until after the fact that this man is his father.

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From the oracle, the prophecy stated that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother in a truly unfortunate plan for his future. So in attempts to escape this potential future, he does everything he can, or at least he thinks, to avoid what is to come. Unfortunately for Oedipus, he does realize that fate has a way of presenting itself at all costs. Sophocles successfully presents this tragedy in

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The killing of Laius is starting to clear up, it was the same way he killed the man on his way back to Thebes. “What man? Why does it matter? Leave it alone.” (line 188, part 2)

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There he happens to meet Laius and Laius acts brutally towards Oedipus telling him to move. Immediately, Oedipus feels offended and compelled to strike back because of his anger. Furthermore, Laius’s brutality ignited Oedipus’s anger to kill him and his servants.

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