How Did Oedipus Try To Prevent His Fate

Imagine being told your future fate without knowing if it’s true, when it will happen, or even if you can prevent it. One king, Oedipus, in particular, was living that very reality. His fate was uncovered early on by a prophecy, so he lived life trying to run from that fate. Yet, he unknowingly lived that very life later on. He led a life of incest, committed a heinous crime, and was burdened with suffering after the acts were revealed. Oedipus’ past led to him to a destructive fate.

King Oedipus’ arrogant personality led him to break had moral law. Moral laws are the standards we set for ourselves, or our belief’s in the way that we should live our lives. For Oedipus, he ran from the thought of his moral laws being broken. His opinion was

He broke moral laws when he married his mother, and even when he killed his father. He felt that he was “Oedipus The Great,” and that he could escape his prophecy. This was shown when Oedipus was told by the god’s that he would marry his mother, and in rebuking that, he stated that he will leave Corinth, and will never do such a thing. Tiresias stated the flaw best when he said “You blame my temper, but you are unaware of the one you live with.” Meaning that Oedipus’ arrogance and bad temper are his problems/flaws. The king felt that the gods words were untrue and his fate was something that he could prevent, but he really couldn’t. He was a very conceited and arrogant man, who felt that he was the gods gift to the earth. He even said “I Oedipus whom all men call the Great.” This was a very haughty statement on his part. As well as his arrogance, he also acted quite invincible, or as though he will never be defeated. He shown this with the statement “Nothing will move me, I will find out the whole truth.” Although he acts as a superior to others in the town of Thebes, he is also a very determined

Yet, what is hubris exactly? Hubris is just another word to describe arrogant or over-prideful, which Oedipus definitely was. After finding out that he had really committed the crimes which his prophecy had predicted, he stated “Oh God! I think I have called down upon myself a dreadful curse not knowing what I did!” As shown, he even realizes what grave consequences followed his life of incest. Although he was ashamed of the life he had been living, he realized that the mistakes were his own, and no one can bear the weight but him. He even said it himself “No one but me can bear this weight.” The grave consequences which Oedipus suffered in the end consisted of the loss of his mother/ wife by suicide, as well as his grief becoming a threat to himself, as he stabbed his own eyes out, blinding him permanently. After suffering dreadful pain from these actions in grief, Oedipus went on to face the other consequences given by the gods and Creon. He cursed himself many times in the book saying that whoever killed Laius should be banished or killed, and he would even go on to be cursed by his wrongful actions of incest. Creon, then took Oedipus’ words and made them reality, by banishing him to somewhere out of