Blog 6: Free will and destiny in Oedipus

      Oedipus the king had some free will in the sense that he could have avoided everything if he only would have made the right choice or decision that way the prophesy would not have come true. He had the choice of taking his own fathers life when they met in the two roads but Oedipus choose to take his life and continue on the path that took him straight to Thebes his birth place. He also had the choice whether to become the king of Thebes and marry the Queen Jocasta his real mother this is when he killed the Sphinx. But at the same time it was the God Apollo whom manipulated him which led him where he was. [450] when Teiresias says “It is not your fate to fall because of me. It’s up to Apollo to make that happen. He will be enough. This meant that Apollo had certain control of Oedipus life because he was the one that told the old king Laius that his own son was going to kill him and marry his own mother if Apollo wouldn’t have predicted this prophet then most likely wouldn’t come true like I said before. Oedipus did say [1330] “It was Apollo, friends, it was Apollo. He brought on these troubles the awful things I suffer. But the hand which stabbed out my eyes was mine alone. In my wretched life, why should I have eyes when nothing I could see would bring me joy”. This quote also shows that he take responsibility for the things he did and decisions he made by himself he this is why he decides to punish himself by not seeing and he also wants them to cast him out of Thebes [1290] when the second messenger says “He wants them to cast him out of Thebes, so the curse he laid will not come on this house if he still lives inside”. He also decided on this because he wanted his people to not suffer because of him and the plague would stop killing his people. This all shows that Oedipus did have some control of his life but so did Apollo on his destiny.