Oedipus the King by SophoclesIn the play "Oedipus Rex" the main character, Oedipus, must deal with his predetermined destiny and his own nature. He is cursed from the beginning of his life when a fortune teller tells his fate at his birth. It is predicted that he will kill his father, marry his mother and start a family. Oedipus was born to Laios and Iocaste who were the king and queen of Thebes. Upon his birth, his parents were shocked by a fortune teller's prediction of Oedipus' fate. It was initially said that he would kill his father, marry his mother and start a family. Of course his parents couldn't allow this, so they got rid of Oedipus by apparently killing him. They gave him to a shepherd and told him to take him away and kill him. The shepherd failed to kill his, so he gave him to another shepherd and told him to get rid of Oedipus. Even this shepherd could not kill the child, so he learned of a king and queen in Corinth, Polybus and Merope, who were trying to have a son to inherit their throne. He gave them the young Oedipus and later inherited the throne of Corinth. As Oedipus grew older, he eventually learned of his fate from a stranger. Oedipus, being the kind-hearted person that he was, did not want to hurt his parents in any way. So he ran away from home hoping that this would put an end to his predetermined fate, but this only made things worse. While he was traveling he met a man on the road who was his real father L...