Oedipus Rex

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Professor

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Date

The Role of Fate and Free Will in Oedipus Rex

In Sophocles 's tragedy Oedipus Rex , the inevitability of fate is portrayed . The fate of Oedipus is foreseen even before his birth . From the very beginning , free will has been ruled out by the prophecy that was given to King Laius and Queen Jocasta . The prophecy states that their son Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother . There are instances in the play when the characters involved could have done something to prevent

this prophecy from happening , but the precautions they took lead to the prophecy 's fulfillment

Laius and Jocasta , fearing that the prophecy would come true , send the child Oedipus away to be exposed to the wild . Unfortunately for them Oedipus survives and is taken to Corinth where the King and Queen are desperate for a child . The young boy eventually grows up to be a fine young man , but the prophecy would soon haunt him . Thinking that his surrogate parents are his real mother and father , he leaves the kingdom as soon as he heard the prophecy . On a forked road , Oedipus comes across a group of men . One of the men supposedly insults Oedipus , and the conflict ends with Oedipus killing all the men except one . One of the men he has killed is King Laius , fulfilling half of the prophecy . He becomes Thebes 's champion by ridding the kingdom of the sphinx that plagues the people . With the king...