Who Is Oedipus Responsible For His Own Downfall

Oedipus
All of Oedipus’ obstacles were an effect of his own actions. It all began when the Oracle at Delphi announced to Oedipus that he was destined to murder his father and marry his mother. He made the decision to escape the life he knew to stop this event from occuring. He was not aware that by doing so he was allowing the prophecy to happen and that he was entering his destiny of tragedy. When all is said and done, Oedipus was blind and found guilty for the death of the king of Thebes. Although Oedipus was ignorant to the truths around him and was not conscious of the path he was embracing, Oedipus was required to take responsibility for his actions and decisions. One of Oedipus’ mistakes was being ignorant to who his real parents were. Oedipus had discovered rumors that the people he thought were his birth parents were not who they said they were. He had a feeling that the rumors were true, but he foolishly did not make an effort to uncover the truth. Even when the oracle revealed Oedipus to his fate, he did not question who his parents were. Oedipus assumed it was referring to the people he considered his parents, his adoptive parents in Corinth. To avoid fulfilling the prophecy, Oedipus left his home. He didn’t understand that by abandoning his home, he would collide with his
birth parents, Laius and Jocasta, making the prophecy possible.
Because of the words of the oracle, Laius and Jocasta shipped Oedipus away from Thebes, but that was his planned destination when he left home.
During his travel, Laius and his company attempted to drive Oedipus off the road, resulting in him killing his father and the men he was with. It was not until after that occurred that Oedipus was informed that it had been his birth father. Even though Oedipus did not like the fact that he just murdered his father, he should not have gotten so angry to the point of killing someone, especially since he was trying to escape his destiny of murdering his father. Half of the prophecy was complete before Oedipus even realized it was part of
it. Oedipus’ next mistake was taking his mother’s hand in marriage. Oedipus arrived in Thebes when the city had a lot of chaos going on. A sphinx was killing citizens for not being able to figure out her riddle and they had just discovered their king had passed away. Oedipus was able to answer the riddle immediately, saving the rest of the city. The people viewed Oedipus as a hero and wished him as their replacement king. Along with taking the throne, Oedipus was to marry Laius’ wife and Oedipus’ mother, Jocasta. Oedipus did not know these were his parents, but he should not have accepted the title of king and husband to people he just met. He should have noticed that within a short period he had massacred a man and married the man’s wife, clearly finishing the prophecy. Oedipus was ignorant to a lot of information he was told, information that would have prevented him from making any of the decisions he did. It was destiny for these events to occur and most likely would have somehow occurred. He made the mess he was in and he was the one who needed to fix it. For these reasons, he is responsible because they were his actions and decisions, and he dealt with the consequences.