Was Oedipus Responsible For His Fate

Every action has its consequences, that’s written in stone. But a question that has haunted humanity for centuries; are we really responsible for our actions? Since the early ages, people have believed in a godly-like entity that creates, decides and shapes the consequences of our actions, or in other words our destiny. The Greeks believed Fate as a concept outside human understanding that could shape life. Sophocles’ play Oedipus the King protagonist, Oedipus, suffers a tragic end due to his decisions and actions. Maybe he didn’t deserve all that happened to him, but his destiny was sealed, the Gods decided what will happen to him, so whatever he did, involuntary or not, wouldn’t change what was predilected to him.

Oedipus’ fate was sealed
Rumors start spreading in Corinth about that Oedipus may be adopted. So, Oedipus decides to visit the Oracle to clear doubts and it said to him the exact same thing it said to his real father, Laius. That he going to kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus decides to escape from Corinth, to prevent him from doing all the horrible things the prophecy says he is going to do. During his trip, he encounters a caravan of another kingdom, and the 2 groups engage in a fight. Oedipus kills a man, but without knowing, the man he kills is his biological father, Laius. Later he arrives in Thebes, his hometown, from all the kingdoms around Corinth, he arrived at the one where he was born. It doesn’t matter if Oedipus didn’t know the man he killed was his biological father or that Polybus and Merope were his adopted parents. Fate is Fate, and whatever you try to change it, you
And as a reward, he marries the Queen of the kingdom, Jocasta, his biological mother(ewwww incest). When he was king of Thebes, a plague attacks the city. And he consults a fortune teller to tell him how to end the plague. The teller tells him, that the only way to free Thebes from the play is to find and exile Laius’ killer. Oedipus starts searching for the killer, and he even curses it, without knowing that it was himself. Jocasta sends to call a messenger from Corinth. This messenger was a witness of the truth. And he tells everything to Oedipus and Jocasta. Jocasta, overwhelmed, disappointed and ashamed of everything, hangs herself with her own hair. And Oedipus ashamed for everything takes out his eyes in a needle and asks to exile.
Many of the things Oedipus made were involuntary, he didn’t know what he was doing, or what the consequences of his action were going to be. Maybe that is a reason to forgive him and a reason to state that the punishment he received was very hard. But, Oedipus was the one that decided to fight against his fate, if Oedipus accepted his fate we would have a completely different history. And that is one of the most important lessons the Greek taught in those times. You can’t fight against your fate because you will