Free Will in Oedipus the King Essay -- Sophocles Oedipus Rex Essays

Free Will in Oedipus the King Oedipus the King by Sophocles is the story of a man who was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. The story continues in the tradition of classic Greek plays, which were based upon the Greeks’ beliefs at the time. The ancient Greeks believed that their gods decided what would ultimately happen to each and every person. Since those gods destined Oedipus to kill his father and marry his mother, Oedipus’ life was definitely fated. However, the gods only decided where Oedipus’ life would eventually lead; they never planned the route he would take to get there. All the decisions that Oedipus made in order to fulfill his destiny, and the decisions he made after the fact, were of his own free will, and were largely shaped by his mien. Probably the most relevant examples of the exercise of free will are in the events which lead up to the play and which fulfill Oedipus’ prophecy. When Laius and Jocasta hear of their newborn son’s fate, their first instinct is to kill Baby Oedipus. But they cannot do the deed outright; they instead make the choice to pin his feet together and leave him on a mountainside. This turns out not to be the best choice for them, but at least it was a choice. Perhaps the most barefaced example of free will is in the murder of Laius and his men—not so much the murders themselves but the circumstances surrounding the murders. This is how Oedipus describes the incident to Jocasta: Making my way toward this triple crossroad I began to see a herald, then a brace of colts drawing a wagon, and mounted on the bench†¦a man, just as you’ve described him, coming face-to-face, and the one in the lead and the old man himself were about to thrust me off the road—brute force— a... ...is eyes out and Jocasta would hang herself. The people involved were completely responsible for their actions. Technically, everything that happened in the play was outside the realm of the prophecy since the prophecy was fulfilled before the story even started, so therefore, there is no fate in Oedipus the King! Free will is abound in Oedipus the King; any character who makes a decision of their own accord is a testament to that. Even Oedipus, whose life was fated from the start, made many decisions, ranging from how to fulfill his destiny to how to punish himself after finding out he had indeed murdered his father and married his mother, and most of which were shaped largely by his personality. WORKS CITED Sophocles. â€Å"Oedipus the King.† The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. Michael Meyer. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002. 1289-1331.