"Oedipus rex demonstrates that people ultimately have little control over their own lives" Do you agree?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. To have control over something is to rule and be able manage it. The same debate applies to Oedipus the King. Oedipus is in control of his actions, but ultimately the gods predetermine his ill fate. Some believe man is free to choose and is ultimately held responsible for his own actions. Both the concept of fate and free will played an integral part in Oedipus' destruction. Although he was a victim of fate, he was not controlled by it. Oedi ...view middle of the document...
He was hardly influenced or told by anyone to investigate Laius death. Some people believe that you cant control the your fate at all every choice you make, every thought you have is already predetermined.It is believed that Sophocles felt that a person had no control over the course of his life. It is argued that no matter how much freewill Oedipus had in controlling his life, fate had already taken control. Sophocles believed in both fate and free will, that man really does have free will; it just exists within fate and the limitations that go along with it. Man makes his own choices, but not if they go directly against fate. That is, fate exists, but ultimately man makes his own decisions and bears the responsibility for them. The ending is already determined, but free will decides how one gets there. Choices made along the road are yours and yours alone, but the gods have already decided where you're going. Therefore, Oedipus inevitably would have completed his ill fate in one way or another but his choices led him thereOedipus was not the only mortal that determined his fate. His birth parents Laius and Jocasta also helped. It was their decision to go against the gods and cast away their son. Jocasta thought she had outsmart the gods, but in fact, every decision she made moved her closer to the prophecy becoming a reality. If La...
