Oedipus Free Will

The Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex by Sophocles demonstrates the theme of free-will versus fate. Theme is the central or dominating idea of a work. Through the character, actions, and subsequent downfalls of Laius, Jocasta, and Oedipus, Sophocles shows how free-will is limited.

Firstly, as Oedipus is the tragic hero of this play, he must possess a characteristic that leads to his downfall and for Oedipus, that flaw is his hubris. When told by Teiresias, the blind prophet, that “those clear-seeing eyes shall be darkened” as well as how Oedipus was the one to have killed Laius and marry his own mother, Oedipus calls him mad and refuses to believe his prophecy. However, by the end of the play, Oedipus comes to the revelation that Teiresias’ words were truthful and he stabs his own eyes out in guilt and shame and in the process darkens his once clear-seeing
However, the child lives on as the shepherd that was sent to kill this baby didn’t have the heart to do so and passes the infant to a fellow labourer who then passes him on to the King and Queen of Corinth, Polybus and Meropé, who name him Oedipus.

The rulers of Corinth raise the child to adulthood before he hears of his prophecy, and just like his mother and father, Oedipus attempts to cheat fate by running away from his adoptive parents, as he believes that he will kill Polybus and marry Meropé. This only fulfills the prophecy as he encounters (unbeknownst to either of the men) his birth father, Laius, on his journey and kills him, and subsequently heads to Thebes and ignorantly marrying his birth mother, Jocasta. So, despite all of their efforts to avoid their fates, it was their very acts of “free-will” that doomed