The main element in Oedipus Tyrannus centers on the finality of fate: no matter how hard characters try to escape, hinder, or alter their fate, it catches up and overthrows them in the end. This manifests in three ways: The first is how characters rely on oracles. The second is Laius and Jocasta's attempt to murder their child to avoid future calamity. The third is Oedipus's decision to flee his homeland for fear of harming his parents unwillingly.
All of the characters rely on oracles like the oracle of Delphi and prophets like Teresias. In the book there is a plague in Thebes and Oedipus sends Creon to the oracle
. . .
the child--when he was three days old, Laius drove pins into his ankles and handed him to someone to cast upon a deserted mountain path--to die. (he told him) that he would die at the hands of his own child, his child and mine. He tried to escape Corinth when he learned of the prophecies that were supposed to happen in his life.
In conclusion, no matter how hard you try, you can't escape fate. Instead, he fell right into the trap of the prediction by unintentionally killing his father and later marrying his mother. And so Apollo's prophecy was unfulfilled--the child did not kill his father. All of the people in Thebes believe in fate so they can't think for themselves.
King Laius and Jocasta try to escape the hideous prophecy of the oracle by pinning Oedipus' ankles together when he is a child. Laius gives Oedipus to a servant to be disposed of.
Approximate Word count =
422
Approximate Pages =
2 (250 words per page double spaced)
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