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Free Will and Predetermination in Oedipus Rex Essay

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Classical Literature and Mythology

Free Will and Predetermination in “Oedipus Rex”

Oedipus, a prominent character in the play “Oedipus Rex” written by Sophocles, is

portrayed as a tragic hero who undoubtedly must fulfill his destiny: to kill his father and marry

his mother. As the story plays out, two main concepts are addressed throughout, both of which

serve as significant entities in understanding the story of “Oedipus Rex” and what Oedipus

endures: free will and predetermination. It is apparent to see that Oedipus is given free will, but

not entirely. He was able to have free will in the sense that he was able to successfully avoid

what he thought were his parents, but overall, he did not fully have free will because his

avoidance eventually led to what he was destined to do anyways. “He thought he had long since

escaped the fate decreed by the oracle…He discovers that he has indeed killed his father and

married his mother” (Harris and Platzner 659). Oedipus’s life and destiny were already planned

or predetermined because of the Gods and their decisions. Thus, there was nothing he could have

done to escape his fate even if he acted out against it. Oedipus, being mortal, was also faced with

the crudeness and challenges of human nature which predetermined how he would act once he

heard his prophecy.

Even when Oedipus thought he had free will, he truly did not since his “choice” aided in

his prophecy, whether he knew it or not. He decided to turn away from his family, or who he

thought was his family, which led him to ultimately still sleep with his mother and kill his

biological father (Harris and Platzner 663). Ultimately, Oedipus chooses to “leave Corinth,

believing that he could prevent the oracle’s fulfillment and evade the inevitable guilt” (Harris

and Platzner 665). He could not have been held responsible since it were the gods who had

predetermined his fate. Even though Oedipus longed for his destiny not to be true, nothing he did

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could reverse or fix it since his choices were already predetermined. Thus, Oedipus was doomed

to a life that became torturous and full of guilt and pain as he realized what he had done.

Being fully mortal and human, Oedipus tried to change his destiny but unfortunately

failed. Oedipus acted similarly as his father did when his father came to the realization that his

son would murder him. In response to this news, he pierced and bound Oedipus’ ankles and

abandoned him on a mountainside to avoid his fate (Harris and Platzner 665). Both Oedipus and

his father could not have free will because both were bound to a set of “innate human

responses…responses that produce rivalry and potential violence between fathers and sons”

(Harris and Platzner 665). Thus, even Oedipus’ father did not have free will in this story, despite

the fact that what he thought he was doing would avoid his fate of being killed by his son.

Because Oedipus was human, he could be both in control of his rational decision making and

easily angered. Because of his anger, he lashed out at the old man only to find that it was indeed

his biological father.

Oedipus did not have free will since the more he tried to escape his destiny that oracles

and seers gave him, the more he was trapped into fulfilling it entirely (Harris and Platzner 663).

If Oedipus had never heard the prophecy that was given to him, his destiny still would have been

fulfilled even if he did not initially hear details about it. Because of Tiresias, Oedipus was able to

find out what his future would bring: “He shall be revealed at once as brother and father to his

own children, husband and son to his mother, his father’s kin and murderer” (Sophocles 693). If

Oedipus’ knowledge and realization of killing his father and marrying his mother never came,

his fate still would have prevailed since it was predestined from the start. The truth that the

oracles, seers, and prophets presented to Oedipus would not have changed his fate.

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1 Classical Literature and Mythology Free Will and Predetermination in “Oedipus Rex” Oedipus, a prominent character in the play “Oedipus Rex” written by Sophocles, is portrayed as a tragic hero who undoubtedly must fulfill his destiny: to kill his father and marry his mother. As the story plays out, two main concepts are addressed throughout, both of which serve as significant entities in understanding the story of “Oedipus Rex” and what Oedipus endures: free will and predetermination. It is apparent to see that Oedipus is given free will, but not entirely. He was able to have free will in the sense that he was able to successfully avoid what he thought were his parents, but overall, he did not fully have free will because his avoidance eventually led to what he was destined to do anyways. “He thought he had long since escaped the fate decreed by the oracle…He discovers that he has indeed killed his father and married his mother” (Harris and Platzner 659). Oedipus’s life and destiny were already planned or predetermined because of the Gods and their decisions. Thus, there was nothing he could have done to escape his fate even if he acted out against it. Oedipus, ...
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