Oedipus the King by Sophocles

What is so "tragic" about Oedipus' fate?

Why did it happen?

Aswin:
The tragic fate of Oedipus' life is murdered his own father and he does not realize it. Even though, he becomes king of Thebes and he also has to married the queen of Thebes, Jacosta, which is his mother, and he does not realize it too. When all the facts revealed, he has to commit with his own promise that the murderer will be exiled from Thebes.
All is start because Laius believe in a propechy about his fate that someday he will be killed by his son. After Jacosta gave birth to a son, Laius exiled the baby outside Thebes. After raised by Polybus and Merope, Oedipus traveled to Thebes and killed Laius without knowing that Laius is his own father.


Veronica:
I can also say that Oedipus' fate is so tragic because he has been destined to be the murderer of his own father and he will be marrying his own mother. Though, it shown that he runs away the country to avoid the prophecy from an oracle, he still cannot avoid it. It really happens in a reality.
It did happen because of Oedipus' belief in oracle. In my opinion, if Oedipus does not believe what the oracles say, i think he will never know all of the predictions. As a result, there won't be any such things happen. It is because we haven't put all the predictions into our mind set. So, it's better to live his life as it is.


Fellysia:

The tragic that befalls Oedipus lies in his fate as an oracle has predicted that he will kill his father and marry his own mother before he was even born that his real father, King Laius ordered him to be killed. This, however, was failed to be carried out. The failure to murder Oedipus as a baby, leads to him being brought up by another set of parents, and upon learning his destiny from the Delphi that he is to be the murderer of his father and sleeping with his mother, he flees the country in the hope he will not carry out this terrible prophesy. Nonetheless, what’s been determined can not be changed, as shown that his running away proves to be useless, for in his course to run away from his destiny, he is in fact fulfilling it. When he meets an unknown man called Laius, he kills the man not knowing Laius’ true identity as his father by blood. This also leads him to solving the riddle from the Sphinx and marrying Jacosta who is actually his mother. Thus, it can be seen that he has no control upon his life for everything has been predestined that little can he do to change it. This displays how fate is a pivotal part of Oedipus’ life, for he is merely living to make sure it happens without any power to change the outcomes of it.

Juanta:

Fate is something that has been written into someone's life line. Oedipus tries to avoid what oracle has prophecied to him but eventually he becomes the main actor of the prophecy fulfillment. That's the tragic part of Oedipus fate. Fate or God's will cannot be changed with human's effort or human's will. In my opinion that's the reason why it all happens.

Kharis:

what is so tragic about Oedipus fate? He tries to rin away from his fate, but, instead of succesfully avoding his fate, he walks toward it. The question is, does the oracle make some kind of a prediction or some kind of a prophecy? If it is a prediction, then the story would not so tragic at all because Oedipus has the chance to reset the future as seen by the oracle by running away from it. But, because it is a prophecy, then whether he leaves corin or not, the story will always end up with him kills his own father and having children with his biological mother, because fate has a tragic design for his life. So, the whole life of Oedipus is tragic, because it is predestined to be tragic.

Lusiana:

as i know, the tragic about Oedipus fate is when he tried to find out the murderer of his father, at the end he found that the one who kill his father is himself. And then, he also knew that the woman he has married is his own mother. And on the same day when he his father was murdered, he is inaugurated as the new King. But, then he found that the murderer of his father is himself, and the woman he married is his mother, then he was chased away from his kingdom because he killed his own father. everything happened only in one day.