Prophecy is a central part of Oedipus the King. The play begins with Creon’s return from the oracle at Delphi, where he has learned that the plague will be lifted if Thebes banishes the man who killed Laius. Tiresias prophesies the capture of one who is both father and brother to his own children. Oedipus tells Jocasta of a prophecy he heard as a youth, that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother, and Jocasta tells Oedipus of a similar prophecy given to Laius, that her son would grow up to kill his father. Oedipus and Jocasta debate the extent to which prophecies should be trusted at all, and when all of the prophecies come true, it appears that one of Sophocles’ aims is to justify the powers of the gods and prophets, which had recently come under attack in fifth-century B.C. Athens. Oedipus believed to be fated by the Gods, that he would kill his father and marry his mother, which happened to become reality for poor Oedipus who tried to avoid this path his whole life. I do not believe his fate was avoidable because Oedipus did everything he could to diminish his fate, he thought he was avoiding his fate by leaving his mom and dad, who were not his real parents. I think Oedipus should of been suspicious of the accident that he committed, killing his father, that should of been a red flag to him. If Oedipus went in another direction besides Thebes, he would of been fine, coming nowhere near to his mother, but the Gods made him go in the direction of his mother, he did not have a choice. He was even smart enough to solve the riddle of the sphinx. I think that Oedipus's downfall was that he never went to the oracle for help or believed what the oracle was saying to him, he was ignorant. When Oedipus realized that his fate became a reality, it was to late for him to change the course of events, what was done was done, there is nothing more he could of done, besides gouge his eyes out because now he had the knowledge. I do not think Oedipus could have taken another path. He was doomed from the start. Even Jocasta his mother did not realize it was her son, which maybe you would think that a mother could have a sense that it is their son. The Gods played a dirty trick on Oedipus and he was set on a path that could not be tampered with. The blind prophet told him what was happening, but it was to late for Oedipus to do anything about it. In the end, Oedipus should of just stayed where he was born with his fake mom and dad, which would of avoided his whole fate, but then again Oedipus thought he had control when he really did not, the gods had all the control and Oedipus was just a puppet in their game.
