"He cannot ever show that Laios'death fulfilled the oracle: for Apollo said my child was doomed to kill him; and my child--poor baby!--it was my child that died first."
Iocaste p.982, lines 324-327
In the play "Oedipus Rex," by Sophocles, the relationship between fate and free will is one that can be debated upon. Did Oedipus conciously kill his father eventhough, he claims to have no recollection of his father death? Or was Oedipus destined to kill his father and marry his mother?
What are fate and free will? Fate is that which is inevitably predetermined; destiny. Free will on the other hand is a free and independent choice; voluntary decision. In the case of "Oedipus Rex," fate is the driving force behind Oedipus' actions. Oedipus was destined to kill his father as told by Apollo's oracle. The Oracle prophocized that a that the child of Laios and Iocaste, Oedipus, would kill his father Laios. Also the fact that Oedipus had no knowledge of killing his father or how his father really was shows the free will played no part in the events that occured after Oedipus' birth. Fate was the determining factor that drove Oedipus to unknowingly murder his father and subsequently taking Laios' throne and marrying Iocaste(Laios' wife and Oedipus' mother). The relatinship between fate and free will in "Oedipus Rex" is one where one, fate is the only force that drove Oepidus to act the way he did, and not free will.
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