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Oedipus Rex Fate Vs Free Will Research Paper

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Fate versus free will is said to be the basis of many stories, from around the world. In Oedipus Rex, this is still true. The biggest debate in this story is whether the human life is decided by fate or free will. Oedipus fights his fate so fiercely, and in return he blinds himself once the truth was revealed. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus sees his destiny in the oracle, tries to run from this outcome, and finds his fate has come true. Oedipus saw his future in the oracle and denied it. As a young kid Oedipus believed in the oracle and the gods. But as he saw his destiny he decided to be ignorant of it and abjure the gods. “I’m going. But first I shall tell you why I came...He will be blind although now he can see, he will be poor although now he is rich...he will turn out to be the brother of the children in his house---their father, too, both at once and the husband and the son of the very woman who gave birth to him”(Line 444-463). As he was told this …show more content…

As Oedipus discovers the truth Jocasta starts to get defensive and tells him not to believe it. She feels guilty for marrying her son, and now he knows his mother/wife tried to kill him as an infant. “I will not be convinced I should not learn the whole truth of what these facts amount to” (Line 1069-1070). Jocasta learns of her misfortune and out of her free will she kills herself. In return Oedipus realizes that although now he sees the truth, he would rather be blind, so he stabs his eyes out with the brooches of Jocasta’s dress. “...the awful things I suffer. But the hand which stabbed out my eyes was mine alone. In my wretched life, why should I have when there is nothing sweet for me to see”(Line 1329-1333). Oedipus believes he stabbed his eyes out of pure free will, but the ongoing debate of fate vs. free will leads to the thought of Jocasta killing herself and Oedipus blinding himself, was in their

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Oedipus struggles with the truth and his fatal flaw comes in when he is determined to find out who his real parents are and who he really is, despite everyone telling him to avoid finding out, as it may be too tragic to discover. Oedipus was not able to handle the truth upon learning what he had done. This causes him and those around him to fall into despair, including his wife and mother Jocasta, who commits suicide due to the prophecy. Oedipus blinds himself so he no longer has to look at the damage he has caused. This was foreshadowed earlier with Tiresias, a blind prophet, who tells Oedipus that though he has his eyes, he can not see in what misery he stands.

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After Oedipus discovers that his wife is his mother, and that he had killed his father, he decides he no longer deserves to see, without thinking, he takes the brooches from Jocasta’s robe, and plunges them into the sockets of his eyes. Oedipus says, “No longer see the things that I have done… the things that I have suffered” (Sophocles, ii.385). The chorus responds, “You have chosen a painful path. It were better to be no more than live in darkness” (Sophocles, ii.460).

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