Although the gods controlled the lives of the characters, it was the limited free will of the characters that chose the path that would ultimately lead them to their demise. This is demonstrated when Oedipus felt that "[he] was condemned to enlarge [his] mother and kill [his] father, shedding [his] father's blood with [his] hands." 1007) “[... Oedipus] fled, placing the stars [between] [him] and Corinth, never to see home again, so that no such horror should ever happen. (Sophocles, 796-797). Not wanting to be a victim of his fate, Oedipus had left his parents' house because he did not want to kill the people he thought were his parents. It was his free will that had brought him to Thebes. If Oedipus had wanted to fulfill his prophecy he would have stayed in Corinth and tried to kill Polybus. Although he was destined to meet Laius on the road to Thebes, he did not realize that this was actually his father when he killed him. Another example would be when Jocasta did not want the prophecy to come true, so "[she] gave [Oedipus to the shepherd]" (Sophocles, 1071) to "[t]o be destroyed" (Sophocles, 1073). Jocasta had no intention of making the prophecy come true. Although their lives are predominantly controlled by fate, it was Jocasta's free will to give up her child, in the hope that the prophecy "[saying] that the child would kill