Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles, is an infamous piece of ancient Greek literature. It tells the story of a young man whose parents receive, during childhood, an oracle telling them that their son is going to kill his father and have sexual relations with his mother. Oedipus' parents then bind his feet and abandon him in the desert where he is discovered by a shepherd from the neighboring city of Corinth. The king and queen of this city raise him; he grows up to be a great leader and marries the queen of a nearby town, Jocasta. It is later discovered that while hiking he killed a man he thought was a beggar, who turns out to be his father and that the queen he marries is unfortunately his mother. After these unfortunate events, Eurydice commits suicide and Oedipus goes blind. The major problem in this story is the ability to choose good over evil, or free will. The main theme of the Oedipus Rex tales is undoubtedly the concern with free will in this story. This issue is very closely linked to the idea of ​​destiny, but the two are juxtaposed. The battle is widespread in all its aspects, due to the fact that the gods give Oedipus a fate from his birth: he will murder his father and kill his mother; by his free will, he flees this destiny. Ironically, while fleeing his destiny, he runs directly towards it. This is very common in ancient Greek writings, they believed in malicious and petty gods. This leads them to attempt to answer these questions through stories, usually they follow the exact same formula: the gods issue a mandate on a specific human being, the human runs away from this mandate, but against his will he ends up fulfilling it . At that time, the Greeks already knew... middle of article... a worldview. From the time of ancient Athens to today's society, despite all the technological progress, scientific and literary breakthroughs. achievements, humanity has strived to answer simple questions about our fundamental makeup and the supernatural world. Sophocles wrote Oedipus the King to try to answer these questions, or at least to make them known, for the same reason that Wachowski directed The Matrix: to show that, whatever true humanity may be, one should not attempt to modify it. This. Human life will continue regardless of individual attempts to change it, and as Sophocles and Wachowski show, true humanity may not be exactly what society would like it to think. When trying to change everyday life, we may find a less attractive reality. Works Cited “Christian Symbolism.” Symbolism. Np, November 26, 2003. Web. November 18. 2013.