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How Does Oedipus Cause His Own Downfall

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How Does Oedipus Cause His Own Downfall
In the play Oedipus the king the main character Oedipus goes through many ironic twist and turns which inevitably cause his downfall. These ironic twists are his doing, Oedipus causes his own downfall. After hearing a great oracle say his prophecy Oedipus tries to change all his life to try and avoid what will fatefully happen to him. In doing so the prophecy comes to fruition without Oedipus even realizing it. After hearing an oracle say he has already completes the prophecy he searches for answer and does not hear what he would want to hear. This causes chaos within himself and the kingdom, he cannot handle the truth because he desperately tried to change his fate with his own free will but fails horribly. This could’ve been avoided if as Oedipus was born instead of sending him to be executed by a shepherd and then being spared only to fulfill the prophecy the king Laius should have just treated him as a normal person with no added contact to him and when Oedipus would have become of age king Laius could have just explained the …show more content…
He had the ability to escape the curse but was just so unlucky. His parents could have save him if only they would have kept him as their son and wouldn’t have tried to execute Oedipus as a child. “a hired hand will do the actual dirty work of setting out the child, who in turn will be somehow "done away"”.(Savoie). In the end, Oedipus was not done away with he simply was heard done the path of chaos and hardship. If only his parents had trust Oedipus to take care of the prophecy by not getting it happen when he turned into an adult. It is fate that all the horrible things happened to Oedipus. He tried to stop all the prophecy but was blinded by his own free will. He underestimated fate and caused his own destruction. There might have been a different outcome if only his parents would have had a different thought about how to handle the
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