Whether “destiny” or “free will” has control of our lives has always been a highly debatable controversy, even today. Many of those who hold religious views believe that there is a higher power that has a predestined plan for each of us and that our lives are not in our hands at all. If we knew our destiny, would we have the power of free will to change our future? In the play Oedipus, fate becomes the determining factor in Oedipus' life and even with "free will" there was no way to prevent his inevitable destruction. Oedipus is guided and shaped at every moment by the actions and beliefs of others, who act as unwitting agents of his tragic fate. The work opens with Theban subjects praying on the altar of Oedipus to be freed from the plague. They beg and plead with Him to lend His greatness to their aid. “..Oedipus, king, we bow to you, your power… we beg you, best of men, raise our city!” (161) He is sympathizing with the faithful, when the queen's brother Creon enters the scene. Oedipus sent Creon to the Oracle to find a remedy for his city's problems. Creon would like to share the message with him privately, but the brazen king does not want to listen to it. He says, "Speak out, speak to all of us. I grieve for this, my people, far more than I fear for my own life." (163) Creon is forced to fulfill his king's wish and tells the fateful message. According to the Oracle, Thebes' troubles are the punishment for having harbored a murderer, the murderer of Laius, Oedipus' predecessor. Upon hearing this, Oedipus launches into a fervent oratory in condemnation of this man, and warns all who will listen of the consequences of hosting him. him or trying to hide him from his research. “So bold, so wild”, h...... in the center of the card ...... interminable enigma. In doing so he wins his mother Jocasta's hand in marriage and takes the reader back to the moment at the beginning of the work. At no point in his life leading up to the dramatic climax is Oedipus truly free from the troublesome hands of fate. All along the way, his actions and judgments are based on what someone has done before him. This is almost by definition NOT free will at all. The decision-making process left to him is no more important than whether to row doggy style or swim breaststroke in a stormy sea. Whether it is a lie or a chance encounter with a humble shepherd, Oedipus himself is led to his inevitable conclusion. Gouging out his eyes was Oedipus' first action in the life of a free-thinking and self-determined man. Works Cited by Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin Classics 1984