This paper examines the role that fate plays in Greek tragedies, specifically in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. By juxtaposing the role of fate against that of free will in the play, it becomes quickly evident that for Sophocles, fate was a function of the universe that no amount of human effort could escape. Oedipus' choices, which were consistently intended to take him farther from his fate actually led him to it, fulfilling every prophecy made.
