Fate or free will? One of the main themes of Oedipus the King written by Sophocles is the debate between free will and destiny. There are many free choices that were made in the play, such as Oedipus' decision to pursue knowledge of his own identity. However, fate is responsible for many of the other critical events that took place in the play, such as Oedipus' incest. Fate is made to seem very important in this play because it is written to make it seem like the characters cannot be held fully responsible for their actions due to fate. The main free will choice made in Oedipus the King was for Oedipus to decide to find his own identity. The prophecy given to Oedipus states that he will kill his father, marry and have children with his mother. Horrified at the thought of this, Oedipus leaves his city so he can stay away from his parents and prevent the prophecy from coming true. Oedipus does everything he can to try to discover the truth and his own identity; this shows his determination as a character but also shows that he is still capable of making his own choice of free will. When Oedipus travels to Thebes, he is presented with another choice: free will, to become king, or to continue moving forward. Without him knowing it, his choice to stay puts him in the hands of fate and brings him much closer to the fulfillment of the prophecy. Jocasta tries to convince Oedipus that the prophecies are not accurate, but ironically uses another prophecy from the play to defend his statement "Then you can ease your conscience on this point / Listen and I will convince you that no man / Has had or fate in game." prophetic art/ Here's the proof in a nutshell. An oracle / Once came to Laius (I will not say / It was of the Delphic god himself, b...... middle of paper ...... you will not look at the shameful things I have done or you have done to me. In 'darkness you will now look at those whom I should not have seen, and you will not know those whom I longed to know,'" (Sophocles 1268) Oedipus had accepted his fate and his actions which had led to it and gave himself a punishment which he thought fit; taking away his seen because he could not bear what he had done. In conclusion, Oedipus Rex consisted of fate and free will. Not one more than the other because in order for fate to take its course he had to use his free will to get there Oedipus' free will choices to make the decision to find his identity, marry Jocasta, stay in Thebes, all led him to his destiny of fulfilling the prophecy that, that he had tried so hard to escape from. and to prevent it from happening, in the end it was inevitable and caused this great tragedy.