The moral of the story of Oedipus Rex is that it is impossible to escape one's fate. Oedipus, the main character, is told his fate by the Oracle of Delphi. Despite doing everything he can to avoid it, Oedipus still ends up fulfilling the prophecy.
At the end of Oedipus the King, the Chorus conflates the people of “Thebes” with the audience in the theater. The message of the play, delivered directly to that audience, is one of complete despair: “count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last” (1684).
Within the context of ancient Greece, Oedipus's act of murder is not the moral misdeed; betraying his father is. Based on the Oxford definition, Oedipus is guilty of patricide as he did in fact kill his own father. Oedipus is certainly conscious of his act of murder, but he is blind to his own patricide.
Although Oedipus is not morally accountable for the crimes discussed above, according to Hegel's theory of tragedy, as a tragic figure, he must also be gravely wrong in some way.
In Oedipus Rex, Sophocles shows that, in the case of finding truth, if a man starts in search for the truth, he must find the whole truth, but if a man never starts in search for the truth, he can stay ignorant of the truth. The story of Oedipus shows that the better of the two is staying ignorant of the truth.
Puzzled at first, then angry, Oedipus insists that Tiresias tell Thebes what he knows. Provoked by the anger and insults of Oedipus, Tiresias begins to hint at his knowledge. Finally, when Oedipus furiously accuses Tiresias of the murder, Tiresias tells Oedipus that Oedipus himself is the curse.
Several years (and several children) later Oedipus and Jocasta figure out the truth of everything with the unwilling help of Tiresias, the seer. Jocasta hangs herself, and Oedipus stabs out his own eyes.
On the surface, Oedipus committed the crimes of murder and patricide and incest, although he did not know he was doing it at the time. On a deeper level, though, Oedipus committed the crime of pride.
Oedipus is a victim of fate as constant evasion of his foretold future led him down a path of self-destruction, attesting that one's destiny is inevitable.
Who is Responsible for Oedipus' Downfall? Oedipus is ultimately responsible for his own downfall. He was warned by the Oracle of Delphi that he would kill his father and marry his mother, but instead of avoiding the prophecy, he took matters into his own hands and tried to outrun his fate.
In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus is depicted as a morally ambiguous character; neither purely evil or purely good. Oedipus runs from his fate initially to prevent himself from pursuing what he believed was his fate; however, he is lead straight towards his real fate.
Oedipus is guilty of many crimes, but this does not mean that he should be punished. One reason that he shouldn't be punished and he wouldn't have known that his parents were Laius and Jocasta. Oedipus was provoked by Laius and he fought back in self-defense oblivious to the fact that Laius is his father.
Oedipus is innocent of his behaviors because he isn't aware that his parents are the victims of his actions, but he is also guilty because he fulfills the prophecy saying he would kill his father and marry his mother and for trying to outsmart the gods and place himself above them.
Oedipus squeezes the information out of the herdsman and realizes that he is the son of Laius and Jocasta, killed his father (Laius) and slept with his mother (Jocasta). Long lament by the Chorus. A second messenger reports Jocasta's suicide. Oedipus blinds himself.
Ultimately, at the end of the play when Oedipus discovers that he did in fact kill his father (Laius) and marry his mother (Jocasta), he gouges out his own eyes. Oedipus sees this as a fit punishment for himself since he was blind to the truth all along.
To the surprise of the messenger, Oedipus is overjoyed, because he can no longer kill his father, thus disproving half of the oracle's prophecy. However, he still fears that he might somehow commit incest with his mother.
The dramatic irony here is multi-faceted. Not only is Oedipus unknowingly cursing himself, but his eventual fate matches his prescribed curse. The tragedy ends with Oedipus in agony having just blinded himself as he limps out of Thebes.
What is Oedipus' tragic flaw, or hamartia? It is hubris or pride. Upon reaching adulthood and hearing the prophecy that he will murder his father and take his mother as his own wife, he attempts to flee the fate the gods have laid out before him by leaving Corinth.
Answer: Oedipus blinds himself because he cannot bear to look at the world anymore after realizing the truth about his past. He learns that he has unwittingly killed his father and married his mother, fulfilling a prophecy that he had been trying to avoid his whole life.
Thinking that Polybus and his wife were his parents, Oedipus left home to avoid this destiny and wound up in Thebes—where he ironically fulfilled the prophecy by killing Laius and marrying Jocasta, not realizing they were his true parents.
Oedipus found out that he killed Laius, his father, and married his mother, Jocasta. He was horrified, so he gouged his eyes out and exiled himself from Thebes.
Yes, Oedipus deserves his fate because he decides out of the free will to pursue the truth. He is destined to kill his father and marry his mother, even before he is born. Yet, he is persistent in his search to find the murderer of Laius. Jocasta realizes the approaching disaster and warns him to give up his search.
Realizing who he is and who his parents are, Oedipus screams that he sees the truth, and flees back into the palace. The shepherd and the messenger slowly exit the stage.
Only when Oedipus threatens violence does the shepherd reveal that long ago he disobeyed his orders and saved the baby out of pity. And, finally, he admits that the baby was the son of Laius and Jocasta. With this news, Oedipus realizes that he has murdered his father and married his mother.
Oedipus reveals that while a young man at Corinth he heard rumours that he was not the son of Polybus and Merope; Apollo's oracle told him he would kill his father and have children by his mother; on the way to Thebes, he quarreled with and killed a man who (he now realizes) was Laius.