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Sophocles' play Oedipus the King, questions how free will and destiny contribute to human life. One idea was that he was trying to point out the power of human free will. However the question that is brought up throughout the play is that: Is it fate, or Oedipus’ employment of free will in decision making that contributes the sequence of events ending ultimately in his downfall? In order to examine the question, I have looked at what characteristics contributed to Oedipus’ use of free will and also at the various points in the play in which Oedipus employs this. Important points in this story are that the character of an individual greatly affected his or her fate in life, in the case of this play Oedipus’ character is examined. Each person’s character has positive and negative things about them that affect the choices that he or she makes. Free will is part of a person’s character, for it is about choices and decision making for themselves, and how those decisions affect them. In Oedipus the King, the free will of Oedipus is an important part of the play’s structure, because his desire for knowledge of the truth drives him and greatly affects the decisions he makes throughout the story, like killing a stranger on