Oedipus The King: Fate Versus Free Will

Are you in control? Are you the deciding factor for your future? Or is it up to fate, a predetermined destiny? A destiny that will always catch up, no matter how fast you run.

In the Greek tragedy, Oedipus the King, written by the famous tragedian, Sophocles, control is in the hands of the gods.

Fate is more powerful than free will in Oedipus's life because multiple prophets, Tiresias, and Delphi, told him he would eventually kill his father and lay with his mother, he ran from Corinth to Thebes believing he would be safe from fate, when he was actually running towards it and he eventually fulfills the prophecy, killing his father and laying with his mother. At the beginning of Oedipus's life, he was condemned to death by his mother, Jocasta.

Saying “You are the killer. You bring the pollution upon Thebes.” as well as foreshadows what Oedipus would eventually do at the conclusion of the play by saying “Those eyes that now see clear day will be covered with darkest”. This is a prelude to the fact Oedipus will eventually blind himself. This is yet another example of how fate always had a firm grip on Oedipus.

When Tiresias tells these things to Oedipus it angers him, and he tells Tiresias, “Do you think you can keep spewing your filth and get away with it?”

After this, he refuses to take Tiresias' word as a trusted prophet as Apollo and instead claims he is working with Creon to overthrow him and take the throne. This is another example of Oedipus trying to escape from fate, this time by denying its existence and truth.

These pieces of evidence clearly show us how Oedipus was told of his fate and tried to escape and deny

Soon after his birth, we know that Oedipus was condemned to death by his mother, however, the shepherd charged with leaving him on the hills of citheron feels compassion and pity for the infant and instead gives him to a messenger hailing from Corntith. The messenger gives Oedipus to Polybus and Merope, and they raise him as their own, having no other child but desperately wanting one. As he grows he begins to suspect whether Merope and Polybus are his real parents, and he visits the oracle at Delphi to seek guidance, this would turn out to be a terrible mistake. The oracle does not tell him who his parents are but rather tells him of the prophecy. This leads him to believe that Polybus and Merope are his parents. To dodge the terrible prophecy Oedipus decides to flee, and never return, unable to bear the thought of killing his father and laying with his mother.

In pt.2 lines 126 through 128, Oedipus tells the messenger this

“Apollo once prophesized that I would lie with my own mother and with these hands kill me, father. That is why for all these years I have stayed away from