Fate or Free Will

Free Will or Fate In Greek mythology, fate was determined to be when gods would engineer a person’s fate, and they would interfere, when necessary, to make what they planned happen. The Greeks believed that no matter what they did, the gods always controlled their fate, and they had no free will. In Oedipus Rex, Sophocles blends both free will and fate together seamlessly leaving it up to the audience to interpret whether or not Oedipus controled his life or if it was in the hands of the gods. Throughout the entirety of the play, Oedipus is faced with decisions that are life altering and it is for him to decide whether he allows his fate to decide his life or if he wants to decide it for himself. Everyone has the ability to control his or her own fate; however, it is up to everyone to make the decision if he or she wants to lead his or her own life or allow others to lead it for them. King Oedipus is given a multitude of situations to where he can change his “predetermined” life, yet because of his arrogance and stubbornness he ultimately makes the wrong decisions which lead him to the fate of the gods. Oedipus first tries to learn of his future by visiting the Oracle of Delphi when he lived with his foster parents, Polybus and Merope. When he visits the oracle, the oracle tells him that he is going to kill his father and marry his own mother. Hearing this, he decides that he will run away from Corinth so that he can flee, “to somewhere where I should not see fulfilled the infamies told in that dreadful oracle” (Sophocles 792-793). Ironically, this causes him to run straight towards the path the prophecy said he would be on.
The first instance the audience sees Oedipus’ damning flaws is after he runs away from Corinth only to meet his biological father, Laius, at the crossroads. As the caravan approaches Oedipus, he is pushed aside in a “very rough manner.” Oedipus himself admits that out of his own anger he hit the driver and proceeded to kill the old man