A prophecy, told by a god or spirit, can foretell your future destiny. If you were given the opportunity to know your prophecy given the precautions that it could positively or negatively influence your life, would you ask for it or just let it slip? In Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, Oedipus is told that he would kill his father Laius and marry his mother Jocasta. However, Oedipus doesn't believe this and is blind to the truth to accept it, which leads to his demise. Due to Oedipus’ atrocious decision making and the disobeying of other's orders, he realizes a sense of urgency at the end, as it was his responsibility to control his fate. Ultimately, these series of events leads to his demise.
The atrocious decision making by Oedipus leads to him finding out that his prophecy is true. In The Riddle of Sphinx, Oedipus arrives outside of Thebes, where a monster named the Sphinx is terrorizing the city. The monster refuses to let anyone in the city unless they answer her riddle: "What goes on four legs in the morning, two at midday, and three in the evening?" Queen Jocasta, the former spouse of Laius, was being offered her hand in marriage to anyone who could solve the riddle. Oedipus answers the riddle with "Man who crawls in infancy, walks upright in his prime, and leans on
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To conclude, Oedipus is the only circumstance on why he is responsible for his horrendous fate. In the 1st two body paragraphs, Oedipus is revealed to committing awful decisions and to disobey of people’s orders due to his stubbornness and arrogant behavior. In the last body paragraph, he begs for sorrow as he is aware he is accountable for the murder of Laius and the marriage to his mother as he plays a key part in all of them. “It often happens that things are other than what they seem, and you can get yourself into trouble by jumping to conclusions.”-Paul