The story of Oedipus is one full of deeper meaning and moral lessons that extend way past the Freudian idea of the Oedipus complex. It is important for the reader to recognize that this is much more than a story about incest, in fact that is a relatively unimportant part. The main takes a ways are the themes and ideas that it expresses. Very notable themes in this story are the concepts of fate and free will. In this story Oedipus’s choices, such as his determination to search for the truth behind his true identity are very important parts of the plot, but it also very important for the reader to note that fate holds a great deal of responsibility for Oedipus’s downfall and his poor choices such as the incest as well as the other damaging events and choices that occur in this play.…show more content… Essentially what this means is that people are not necessarily limited by fate, but are only limited by their knowledge of their fate. The main question raised here is does Oedipus have free will, can he make his own decisions and choose his own path, or is his life entirely predetermined by fate and destiny? It seems even when Oedipus takes action to avoid his fate it happens anyways, for example, he murders his father and weds his mother without even realizing it and ironically, all of this takes place when he was trying to avoid doing these things, of which he was predicted to do. In a way, Oedipus himself seems to answer this question in the end of the paly because he points out that “the hand that struck my eyes was mine, mine alone” and that” I have done it to myself.” Essentially, Oedipus’s argument is that it is impossible to avoid one's fate, but it is how the person decides respond to their fate is up to them and matter of free
