In Oedipus the King by Sophocles a great king unknowingly makes tragic mistakes that ultimately cause him to blind himself and beg for his own exile. As his kingdom of Thebes starts to fall ill and suffer the king sends his brother Creon to ask the god Apollo what he can do to lift the curse. Oedipus learns that he must find and punish the man that killed Thebes’ previous king. When the king asks the prophet Teiresias who the killer could be, Oedipus discovers that he had killed the former king in an incident at the cities crossroads. While further investigating the issue Oedipus discovers that the people he thought to be his parents actually adopted him and that he was given up to a messenger by his parents. Oedipus tortures the Shepard that gave him to the messenger until the Shepherd tells the truth. Oedipus is told that his mother is a woman named Jocasta, which gave him up because it was prophesied that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. Oedipus happens to be married to Jocasta, and pieces things together to discover that the prophecy had come true. Jocasta is disgusted by the fact that she had given birth to her sons …show more content…
Sophocles uses the themes of fate and free will to showcase some of the consequences of not accepting one’s own fate. Oedipus discovers that he has killed his father, and slept with his mother, neither of which he know about at the time. The king makes it his objective to find the killer of the previous king in order to save his city. On the surface Oedipus is a vile human being but, if his crimes are disregarded he becomes a much more respectable and honest human being. He is judged, even by himself, for the things he has done but not for who he really is. Fate and random chance must be an accepted fact of life. If people waste their lives worrying about what they can’t control they will never make any real