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In Oedipus the King it is made quite clear by Sophocles that trying to defy your fate is pointless and only results in your fate coming to pass whether you like it or not. The first example of the pointlessness of trying to defy your fate is that of Laius. One day Laius, Oedipus' true father, was confronted by an oracle of Apollo. This oracle said that "doom would strike him down at the hands of a son." When Jocasta, his wife, gave birth to a son, Laius, believing he could defy the prediction of Apollo's oracle, ordered that his newborn son be put to death. He gave the child to Jocasta and she gave the child to a servant in the castle, telling him to bind the baby and leave him on a far hill to die. The child was bound and taken by the servant but the servant could not bare to leave the child to die.
The servant found a shepherd in a nearby field and gave him the child to care for and hoped that no one would find out what he had done. Many years later, long after the events with the Laius' child had taken place, Laius set out on a journey. He came to fork in the road and at this fork he and his men ran into a stranger. Laius and his men became involved in an argument with this stranger and the stranger became so angry he murdered Laius and all but one of his men. So, it would appear that Laius did in fact defy the predictions of the oracle. He was not murdered by his son but by some strange man he ran into on a journey.
However, there is a twist in this story. That stranger was in fact his long forgotten and presumed dead son who was on a journey of his own to defy the fate that he had been told must come to pass. Oedipus, Laius' presumed dead son, is the second example of the pointlessness of trying to defy your fate. Oedipus was raised in Corinth as a prince, believing he was the son of King Polybus and Queen Mere. One day Oedipus set off on a journey to Delphi to seek the word of the oracle on what the future held for him. He arrived at Delphi and was informed by the oracle of his inevitable fate.
The oracle told him: "You are fated to couple with your mother, you will breed of children into the light no man can bear to see-you will kill your father, the one who gave you life!" . Upon hearing this, Oedipus fled Delphi and vowed never to return to Corinth so that he could not murder his beloved father and marry his mother. On his journey away from home, Oedipus ran into a group of men at a fork in the rode. Oedipus and these men argued and he became so angry he murdered them. Continuing on his way, Oedipus then ran into the horrible Sphinx that was terrorizing the city of Thebes. He defeated the Sphinx's riddle and saved the city of Thebes.
The people of the city were very grateful and asked Oedipus if he would marry their recently widowed Queen, Jocasta, and become king of Thebes. He agreed and Jocasta and Oedipus went on to have four children and rule the city of Thebes. Many years later, when the city of Thebes was suffering, King Oedipus consulted an oracle again. This oracle said Thebes would be saved if the man who murdered the previous king were driven from the city. After an extensive search, the terrible truth was revealed to all.
The man Oedipus killed at the fork in the road was King Laius. However, this but but one part of what was revealed. A messenger from Corinth told Oedipus that he was not really Polybus' child, that he was given to Polybus by a shepherd. Oedipus found this shepherd and was told by him that a servant of Jocasta, Queen of Thebes, was the one who had given him the child and that he had given the child to a shepherd. It was now clear to Oedipus and everyone that his fate had come to pass. Oedipus had killed his real father, married his real mother and had children by her.
So shamed by this, Jocasta killed herself and then finding his wife / mother dead, Oedipus gouged out his eyes. As it is clear to see in this tale of incest and immorality known as Oedipus the King, trying to defy your fate is an act of stupidity that results only in what you had started out trying to defeat happening anyway. Bibliography:
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