In “Oedipus the King,” the role of prophecy is depicted in a way that people believe that a person’s life is a matter of the decisions made, and what happens after that is a result of your actions. On the other hand, some individuals say that there is no way a person can control his/her own life, that it has already been planned ahead of time and there is nothing an individual can do to escape from this fate. In Sophocles’ play, “Oedipus the King,” these two statements tends to be proved. Tiresias is regarded to be a character who acts as a guide within the plot of the story. Through his prophecies, Tiresias holds the key to advancement and seems to control the final consequence of most of the character’s lives. Among the three prophecies present in “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles includes: Laius, who is the king of Thebes, will be murdered by Oedipus, Oedipus will marry her mother, and that Oedipus will become blind. Generally, it is right to say that Oedipus’ attempt to prevent the prophecies from being fulfilled; means that he eventually seals his fate and suffers from the misfortunes he fears the most. Tiresias serves the purpose of propelling and motivating Oedipus who is the main character throughout the story.

Tiresias is considered to be a blind soothsayer, or somewhat, a prophet. A prophecy can be defined as a statement about a future event. In the play, Oedipus makes efforts to avoid his fate but instead ends up playing a significant role in making several prophecies to come true. In the process of trying to escape from his future, Oedipus happens to become the victim of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Oedipus seeks the advice of an oracle when his kingdom Thebes, happens to be threatened by a plague. Tiresias is a prophet who is predestined to tell the truth. Tiresias tells Oedipus that it is his physical sight which prevents him from seeing the revelations of his past. It is evident when Tiresias says “and since you have reproached me with my blindness, I say you have your sight and do not see what evils are about you, nor with whom, nor in what home you are dwelling” (Sophocles 15). This quote means that Oedipus has failed to view the torment which is part of his life. Sophocles has used Tiresias’ blindness to make the readers understand that seeing physically does not mean that a person can see mentally. Oedipus, who is the king of Thebes, becomes furious after learning about the prophecies and begins to mock Tiresias, calling his prophecies nothing but darkness, riddles, and murk. Laius leaned from the oracle that his son Oedipus would kill him and, therefore, decided to usurp his throne. Alongside with insights from his prophecies, come the obligations and responsibilities of telling the truth in all situations. He uses an influence of truth to control the destiny of Oedipus.

Tiresias reveals certain truth to Oedipus which is regarded to change Oedipus’ life forever. For instance, Tiresias tells Oedipus that “the truth will all its’ strength is in him” (Sophocles 23). This means that the truth is part of who Oedipus is and hence, cannot escape from it. At the time when Oedipus pressurized Tiresias to tell him about the prophecy, the latter became infuriated and only complied with the former that he will marry his mother, Jocasta, after accidentally murdering his father. This is regarded to be a cruel irony of this tragedy. In this case, Tiresias prophecy becomes self-fulfilling because it is evident that Oedipus commits an error of trying to escape from the truth he is told rather than to face it and also hopes to rewrite a prophetic history. The very issue Oedipus tries to escape from is what he ends up running into. Oedipus is considered to begin a terrible journey of truth when he finds out that the people he thought were his parents were not. He, later on, finds out that Tiresias was right and that Laius was his father whom he murdered. Oedipus is banished from Thebes after learning what he had done. Again, if Oedipus had decided to stay at home, then the prophecy might never have been fulfilled. Other than having the prophetic abilities, Tiresias can be depicted to have wisdom because he has the mental capacity of holding the knowledge of Oedipus’ twisted story. Another self-fulfilling prophecy by Tiresias is that Oedipus becomes blind too. This happened after Jacosta Killed herself.  His blindness is a result of the atrocities he has seen, unlike the beauty in which Tiresias saw.

In conclusion, prophecies play the most critical part of Sophocles’ play, “Oedipus the King,” and are considered to be the main drivers of the plot of the story. Each step that the characters take is an effort to escape from destiny; yet, these prophecies end up being self-fulfilled. The main intention of Sophocles to use the theme of prophecy is that he wanted to make the readers reflect on the possible consequences in such a way that the principal characters had decided to behave differently or decided to take no action. Sophocles is also not trying to give a picture of human beings as creatures who are wholly bereft of free will. Oedipus is known to be a strong-willed person, but in most instances lack the courage to face his challenges.

Works cited

Sophocles, E. A. Oedipus the king. Classic Productions, 1994.