According to Webster's Dictionary, fate is defined as "A power that supposedly predetermines what is to happen" (257). In the play "Oedipus Rex" each character is touched by fate directly or indirectly. The author of the play Sophocles pens the story of a man who was destine from birth to be both martyr and hero, he could never be one without the other.

Another view of "Oedipus Rex" is that some critics view him as a "tyrant" and not a hero because he did not come into power by natural succession, but through more sinister means, which are revealed later in the play. Also renowned authors such as Sigmund Freud in his paper "On Dreams" believe that Sophocles meant to portray Oedipus as a tyrant ."... Oedipus frequent outburst of temper, his seeming inability to moderate his emotions, and his restless suspicion of those around him (bordering on paranoia) as...