Oedipus

In the story Oedipus the King, fate is a very controversial topic among the characters. Some believe that fate controls the path your life takes, and some see fate as nonsense; everyone has the power to chose how his or her life unfolds. However, in this story, Jocasta and Laius have their family's fate told to them by a seer. After hearing their life's prophecy, they made certain decisions in hopes that this prophecy could be "avoidable."

It appears that Oedipus had two, very strong personality traits. One would be determination. After he heard the oracle's prophecy, Oedipus was determined not to let it come true. Not realizing the couple who had raised him were not actually his parents, he made sure they were out of reach; he banished himself from his homeland of Corinth and promised to never return again. Another trait would be his sense of pride. Once he had killed Laius, not realizing who he actually was, he came across a Sphinx. The Sphinx gave him a riddle to solve, and Oedipus was able to solve it. He was praised and honored by the people of Thebes, resulting in the marriage of he and Jocasta - Queen of Thebes, King Laius' wife.

Because of Oedipus' determination to avoid his prophecy, his actions actually led him to fulfill it. If he had not left Corinth to escape who he thought to be his parents, he would have never killed Laius, his true father; he never would have solved the riddle of the Sphinx; therefore, he never would have married his mother, Jocasta.

Jocasta, too, was determined to avoid the similar prophecy given to her and her husband, Laius. When Oedipus was born, they ordered for him to be killed, that way there was no possibility of the prophecy coming true. The shepherd ordered to murder the child had sympathy, and gave him to a messenger. That messenger brought him back to Corinth and gave him to King Polybus and Merope, wife of Polybus. Because Jocasta, at one