Oedipus

Oedipus the King: Free Will or Fate?



A common debate that still rages today is whether we as a species have free will or if some divine source, some call it fate, controls our destiny. The same debate applies to Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus. Does Oedipus control his actions, or are they predetermined by the gods? It’s that question that makes Oedipus a classic, and many different people think many different things.

With all the oracles and talk of prophecies, its obvious that there is some divine intervention in Oedipus. But how strong is it, and how much control does Oedipus really have? Fate, or divine will, manifests itself in a number of ways. First, in Oedipus at Colonus, there is the oracle at Delphi that tells Oedipus’s parents and then himself that he will kill his father and marry his mother. It does end up happening, proving divine intervention occurs. Later, the prophet Tiresias tells Oedipus exactly what the oracle did, making himself another examp...