Prophecy In Oedipus

Oedipus was not even born yet when he was given his prophecy. This prophecy resulted in him being left to die as a baby. However, Oedipus survived and grew up to save an entire city of people. He then became their leader, and tried to do everything he could to keep them safe and happy. Oedipus had his flaws, but overall he was a good person. There is no possible way that Oedipus’ prophecy could have been avoided. So for these reasons, Oedipus was a victim of prophecy. Oedipus was only a couple of days old when his parents left him to die. While his mother, Jocasta, was still pregnant with him, she was given her unborn son’s prophecy: “He shall be proved father and brother both to his own children in his house; to her that gave him birth, a son and husband both; a fellow sower in his father’s bed

The belief of many people in Oedipus’ time was that fate and prophecy are completely unavoidable. Some people in the story of Oedipus, like Jocasta and King Laius, clearly believed that fate could be avoided. By leaving their newborn child to die, they thought they were finding a loophole through his prophecy. However, this proved to be false when Oedipus survived and ended up unintentionally fulfilling his prophecy. “And it is I, I and no other have so cursed myself. And I pollute the bed of him I killed by the hands that killed him.” (p. 497). Here Oedipus admitted to the fact that he killed many men in the woods one day before becoming the leader of Thebes. He also admitted to the fact that, after hearing Jocasta’s story of how King Laius died, he was probably the one who murdered him. Oedipus was clearly very upset by this. He was aware of his prophecy at the time, but he had no knowledge of who King Laius was, or that he was his biological father. There was no possible way he could have avoided what happened in the woods. It was fate, and fate can never be