In the play "Oedipus the King" the main character Oedipus suffers a very dramatic and unfortunate life. He did everything he could to try to escape his fate, but there was nothing he could do to avoid the life that he faced. Although Oedipus believed in fate he did not want to accept the life that was made for him. I believe that Oedipus did have free will in this play. Oedipus made choices that he felt would prevent the prophecy from coming true. The debate over fate vs. free choice has been an issue for a long time. Some People believe that fate dominates a person's entire life. Others feel that we are free to make choices in life and that fate has absolutely no role in our lives. Oedipus had a very difficult time accepting what his future had in store for him. Tyresias was the prophet that told him that in his future he will marry his mother and kill his father. In reality what he did to avoid the prophecy ironically made it come true. .
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One example of how Oedipus has free will is when he decided to search for the killer of the king. Being king of Thebes Oedipus felt that it was his job to discover who the murderer of the king was. He made the choice to go ahead and to discover the truth about the death of the king. Although the prophet warned him not to go forward with his decision, he took it upon himself to find the killer of the king. Bernard Knox believed that Oedipus had one free will. His example was also Oedipus's decision to discover the truth. .
Oedipus also used his free will when he decided to run away from his parents to avoid his fate. He thought that if he stayed with his parents, what the prophet told him about his future would come true. So he decided to make his own decisions and leave his parents. If free will did not exist for Oedipus his resolution to runaway to would not have worked out and he would have remained home with his parents. Unfortunately in the end things didn"t work out the way he wanted them to.