Around twenty-five hundred years ago in ancient Greece, the criterion for a tradegy was defined by the philosopher Aristotle as a play that concludes with a release of pity and terror. The audience would pity the tragic fate of the protagonist and fear that they might suffer a disaster themselves. Likewise, the playwright had to hold his audience's attention by creating suspense throught the play. One of the greatest tradegians of all time, Sophocles wrote the play Oedipus the King in which Oedipus is prophesied to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus is pitied because he is a decent man, simply searching for the murderer of his predecessor, the King of Thebes. He does not know he killed his father on his way from the temple of Delphi, and his wife, the queen, is actually his mother. At some points in the play, Oedipus seems to have figured out his true parentage, and at other times he is completely ignorant. Furthermore, Sophocles creates more suspense with the clashing ideas of free will and fatalism; did Oedipus choose his own destruction or was he merely a puppet of fate? Free will is the belief one can control his own fate while fatalism is the belief all events are inevitable. Although Sophocles uses characters to support both free will and fatalism, it becomes evident that Sophocles favors the idea of fatalism.
             Jocata, the mother and wife of Oedipus, continually supports the idea of free will in everything she says or does. When Tiresias, a prophet from Delphi, tells Oedipus that he is the murderer of the deceased Theban king, Jocasta comforts Oedipus by saying, "A prophet? Well then, free yourself of every charge! Listen to me and learn some peace of mind: no skill in the world, nothing human can penetrate the future." She does not doubt the gods' power but thinks precautions can be taken to prevent a prophecy from being fulfilled. After all, Jocasta thinks she and her late husband stopped a prophecy onc...