Who Was Responsible For The Downfall Of Oedipus

The tragic beginning for the city of Thebes all begins the day that the prophecy of Oedipus is revealed. According to the prophecy, Oedipus is supposed to assassinate his father and make love with his mother. Knowing this, his father orders to have his son killed but the servant in charge of this duty gives his son to an old man because he pities the young infant. Although Oedipus indeed did commit these atrocious acts he cannot be fully blamed because he did not know the implications of his actions. In fact, could it be Laius and Jocasta’s fault for believing in these prophecies so much that they cursed themselves the day that they ordered Oedipus to be gone and laid upon the city of Thebes a curse which could have been stopped? Taking responsibility for your actions is the right thing to do, however one should not have to pay for the mistakes of others.

Obviously, it is easy to push blame onto Oedipus, however most people would have behaved in the same manner as he did.

An example of how there is unjust treatment towards him is when he solves the riddle of the Sphinx and it suddenly becomes his fault that he is the one person who is intelligent enough to solve a riddle and save the city of Thebes. The prophet Teiresias even said “That success of yours has been your ruin” referring to the riddle that Oedipus solved (QUOTE). For a matter of a fact, Oedipus ran away from his father Polybus to ensure that the prophecy would not come into fruition. Although, Oedipus cannot reverse his actions, he did take responsibility for his actions by taking out his

eyeballs.
Oedipus played his role for the prophecy to be fulfilled, however there are others to blame for his doings as well. Jocasta and Laius were evil parents who instead of trying to raise their innocent son and teach him from right and wrong attempted to murder him to make sure that they don’t inconvenience themselves in the future. Jocasta did not even investigate the death of her husband when his death was announced. It is understood that Jocasta assumed her son was killed when he was young, but she tells Oedipus “don’t concern yourself with prophecies” (quote). If Jocasta truly believed this, she should have made sure that Oedipus was raised under her nurture and not sent out to die. Jocasta does seem to appear to regret her actions after learning of them as shown when she hangs herself.
Fate has a funny way of showing up, and no matter the case everyone will be receive justice for their actions. Oedipus has many faults as a character but a person without complete knowledge of his past cannot be expected to make the right decision. In fact, he even tried to do the right thing by leaving Corinth to avoid the prophecy. Greek mythology has an interesting way of working out because despite the efforts of Jocasta and Laius their son still ended up completing the prophecy by killing Laius. If anything, the story of Oedipus is a lesson to do things the right way because had Jocasta and Laius not tried to have Oedipus killed the story could have had a peaceful ending.