Inevitability Of 'Free-Will In Oedipus The King'

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Unit 4 Essay: Oedipus

What would happen if peoples lives were already predetermined of how they were going to live before they were even born? Even if they tried with all their might to change their fate, it still wouldn’t matter because their lives have already been set up to follow a specific plan and order. No matter how many different ways they may try to change their fate it is inevitable because these events were already set out for them since the beginning. They never had a choice in their lives because they had no free-will from the beginning. That is exactly what happens to “Oedipus the King.” Before even being born, all choices were taken away and had no free-will. Oedipus left home to avoid killing his father and marrying his mother but did exactly what the prophecy said he would do, making him a victim to his fate.

Oedipus was not only a victim of his fate but also ignorant because the people closest to him knew the truth about him and knew he never really escaped his fate. Tiresias knows the truth of Oedipus and what he has done, but wants to leave Oedipus in his ignorance. For example, “Tiresias: None of you understands! I’ll never bring my grief to light—I will not speak of yours.” (Sophocles, 1.1.333-334). Tiresias …show more content…
For instance, “Oedipus did in fact do what he convicts himself of, suggesting that many of the play’s inconsistencies upon which Ahl bases his argument are evidence not of the innocence of Oedipus but of the controlling power of Apollo.” (Griffith, 95). They explain that Oedipus had no free-will and Apollo was the one in the background controlling Oedipus and pulling the strings of his prophecy. Apollo was thought of as the person or rather God, responsible as Oedipus being a victim of his
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