Oedipus the King talks about the effect of blindness on a person's destiny. In this play by Sophocles, a man, Oedipus, gains power over Thebes after answering a simple riddle. The Oracle of Delphi tells Oedipus that he is “destined to mate with your mother” and “to kill your father” (Sophocles 873-5). Oedipus, the adopted son of King Polybius and Queen Merope of Corinth, worked together to overturn this prophecy, but by then he had already fulfilled it. In the eyes of the ancient Greeks, free will was unattainable because they believed in the truth of the gods and prophets. Oedipus' metaphorical blindness caused him to ignore his prophecy, and although he tried to use his free will to change his destiny, the gods had already set it and that was that. After Oedipus learned of his fate, he fled to Thebes. Out of unnecessary anger, Oedipus irrationally murders a man en route before he arrives in Thebes and acquires kingship. When he was king, he married and had children with an older woman. Not once did he use his free will to think through each of these choices. Oedipus was adopted...