Research Paper on:
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and Free Will

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
The paper supports the premise that the characters all have free will and their decisions take them to their ultimate fates. No additional sources cited. SA105Rex.wps When  Oedipus, who is now the head of a city, is asked to stop the sicknesses that plagues it, he naturally asks the gods for advice. They say that Oedipus must  eradicate the bad elements even if it means a bloody battle. While this is a large part of the plot, what is important is what happens next. Oedipus did obey  the gods and to no avail, and in a discussion later on, it is learned that he might have in carrying out his obligations, murdered his father. He of course  does not know this man is his father nor of his own identity. Oedipus goes on to learn that many years ago a god did predict for a couple  that their son would grow up to kill his father and sleep with his mother. To avert this, the father who is later killed, puts the infant in the woods  and leaves him to die. When Oedipus gets curious about his own roots, the story takes a turn. After all, Oedipus was not the kings real son. It was  logical for him to wonder. Oedipus was in fact rescued and brought up by the king. Because he does in reality end up killing a man who turns out  to have been his real father, and sleeps with this mans wife, who is really his mother, he fulfills the prophesy. The story of Oedipus is well known, and  much discussed, and even utilized in Freudian psychology today as a phenomenon. It was not only Oedipus who had designs on his mother. While incest is taboo, there are developmental