The power of destiny in Oedipus Rex (the King)The underlying theme in Oedipus Rex is that fate is more powerful than free will. On this solid foundation of destiny, free will doesn't even exist. This was a popular belief among the ancient Greeks. Fate can be accepted or denied by modern society, but in the story of Oedipus, fate proves inevitable. In the play Oedipus Rex, the characters Oedipus, Iocaste and Laios try to change fate. At the beginning of the story, before hearing the oracle, there is already a prefiguration of Oedipus' imminent ruin. He himself states to the people: "Sick like you, no one is sick like me" (Sophocles 5). This statement is almost disturbing when you think about it. Alone, he seems to know he is unlucky, but as he continues reading he clarifies his pain thus: Each of you suffers his anguish only in himself, not that of another; but my spirit groans for the city, for myself, for thee" (Sophocles 5). His sorrow is not his future; it is the plague of the country. Tiresias told Oedipus that in his last years he would be the murderer of his father and would marry his mother In an attempt to avoid this situation, he left both his parents and went to a distant city called Thebes and there he married a woman who he himself was sure was not his mother , because his mother was the woman he left behind in Corinth. Furthermore, being so far from his known home, there was no chance he could kill his father, which Oedipus also thought was safe, but Oedipus was not he is the only one who tries to escape the curse. Jocasta knows this before Oedipus himself...... middle of paper ...... .consumes his good fortune until he finds painLife, at his death, a memory without pain (Sophocles 78).Work CitedSophocles "An Introduction to Literature, 11th ed.Ed.". Sylvan Barnett, et al. New York: Longman, 1997.1. You use a lot of appositives. Appositives are devices that rename something, "Oedipus, himself" or "Laios, the king" or "bandit, a stranger". The middle name should be delimited by commas: "Oedipus himself."2. The character of Tiresias should be discussed in your conclusion as he embodies the truth about the absolute finality of fate, which is exactly what the other three characters failed to see.3. Your article should be organized in such a way that each point or each character is discussed in a separate paragraph and you stick to that character until you have discussed it completely.