Oedipus is an odd character in that he believes that he does not need the gods and that he can live on free will alone; he is sadly mistaken. At the close of the Greek tragedy Oedipus The King by Sophocles, Oedipus himself is brought to the realization that everything that is supposed to happen will happen in the end. He uses his own free will and discovers his tragic ending the hard way.
His downfall is foreshadowed early on in the story. It begins when Oedipus has a prophecy told about him and his future which his parents cannot bare. The oracle says that Oedipus will kill his father and marry his mother, therefore his parents attempt to abandon him. Oedipus originally believes that he can stop this prophecy from coming true when he hears it later on in life. If Oedipus had not been confident of escaping the oracle's revealed destiny, he would not have left Corinth. Trying to avert fate, he decides to flee Corinth, the city in which he lives with his adoptive parents.
From then on, his life takes a dangerous turn of events, with very few high points. On his journey from Corinth, he gets into an argument with an old man, Laius, and ends up killing the old man and his servants. A high point then comes. He reaches the Sphinx and correctly solves the riddle which makes him King of Thebes. If he had not been searching for intellect and sense of civic responsibility, he would have never have solved the riddle of the Sphinx. Through this he becomes king, his father's position, and marries his mother, the Queen of Thebes.
All is ironic in the story of Oedipus. One of the most ironic instances is the fact that Oedipus believes that he can actually have the prophecy not come true. But, aside from that, there is the obvious that everyone knows. He is in search of Laius's killer only to find that it is he himself, he marries his own mother, he has children with her -- not only are they his daughters, but also, they are his sisters.
