There are many views of fate. One view believes that if a certain event or chain of events is said to happen, or it has been prophesied, then that person's choice and free will lead them inevitably to what has been predicted. The question of whether something is fate's fault or if the person was going to enact the said action is one that has never been fully decided upon. Fate and free will are often confused because they go hand-in-hand and are, in some cases, interchangeable. However, in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex and Shakespeare's MacBeth, fate creates the initial action but the rest is determined by their own choices and free will, which causes their demise.

From birth Oedipus was destined to be "a brother and a father to his children in his house, husband and son to her who gave him birth; wife-sharer and the killer of...