Opedius Rex

The tale of Opedius Rex (or Opedius the King) is probably the most twisted tale we've read so far. Focusing on the story of Opedius, who is predicted to kill his father and sleep with his mother, this Greek tragedy deals heavily with the theme of free will. The question is how much a person has a say in their own lives, and how much is their fate determined before they are even born. In this story, the tellers of fate come in the form of oracles and prophets, who tell those who listen what will happen to them. In reality, however, few people can honestly say their fates have been accurately predicted; the popular methods of fortune tellers, and horoscopes rarely come true as they are told. Still, people who believe in these methods of telling the future hold fast to the idea of pre-ordained history, and that every action we take has been predicted and taken into account. This idea is based on somewhat flimsy evidence, but is still widely believed, as seen by the proliferance of horoscopes in newspapers and online every day.