Oedipus Tyrannos

7 Pages 1836 Words

e years. If Oedipus is to posses a hamartia, then he must have the free will to make choices and must not be just a victim of fate. The choices that he makes during the course of the play are what lead to the fulfillment of the oracle. Oedipus is responsible for fulfilling the oracle. He is not, however, a wicked man being punished by the gods for his guilt. He certainly has no control over the oracle that was declared by Apollo years before he was born. Apollo states through his oracle that Jocasta and Laius will have a son who will kill his father and marry his mother. Jocasta and Laius, in an effort to avoid the fulfillment of the prophecy, pin their baby’s feet together and abandon him on a mountainside. This is the first step in the fulfillment of the prophecy. Obviously, abandoning a baby is a sin. If they had not tried to avoid the prophecy and had raised the baby as their own son in a loving home the prophecy would not have been fulfilled. This is an...