Oedipus tried overall to do the right thing, but did them in the wrong way. First, he went off to try and discover a fate which he shouldn't have messed with. “At about the age of 18, at a dinner party, one of Oedipus' friends makes a rude remark about his not being a real Corinthian but only adopted. Oedipus is shocked and shamed, and goes off to Delphi to ask Apollo about the truth.” (Adams) He did the right thing in this situation, looking to see if he truly was adopted.
Now we get to the parts of the story with shakier judgment. Oedipus was told by Apollo that he was destined to Kill his father and marry his mother. This was clearly the exact opposite of what he wanted to hear, so he went home, pondering his fate. The he runs into this guy on the road who threatens to run him over with his carriage if he doesn't move. This heats up quickly, and in the end, Oedipus slays the old man. As you can tell by now, this is where the poor judgement comes in the story. Oedipus should not have killed the man, even if the man insulted and bereaved him.
Once he got home, he was hailed as a hero and invited to marry the recently widowed queen. He accepted. Uh-Oh. You might have made the connections by now: The old man he killed was his father and the reason the Queen was widowed was because he had killed the old man, her husband. Oedipus had finally fulfilled the prophecy.
Eventually, he discovered who his parents were, and was not pleased. “At the end of the play, after the truth finally comes to light, Jocasta hangs herself while Oedipus, horrified at his patricide and incest, proceeds to gouge out his own eyes in despair.” (“Oedipus Rex”) . Here's the last wrong thing he did: He punished himself for fulfilling fate. Yes, He shouldn't have killed the old man, and he should've listened to people telling him to stop looking for answers, but he didn't know who his mother was, or his father! But he obviously didn't share this opinion, because he gouged his eyes out.
As a conclusion to this essay, you need to use digression for immediate actions, because a tiny thing can snowball into a bigger thing, like killing your father and having four kids with your mother. Oedipus went wrong by messing with things that shouldn't have been messed with, like destiny. However, messing with destiny doesn't actually alter your destiny. Destiny is what you are going to do in the future, and no matter what you do, it will just play into the plan. Oedipus went out to find out or stop his destiny, and just played right into it's hands by going out to stop it.
Works Cited
Adams, John P. "The Story of Oedipus." CSUN California State University Northridge, 1 Aug. 2006, www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/oedstory.html. Accessed 22 Apr. 2024.
"Oedipus Rex." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Apr. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_Rex. Accessed 22 Apr. 2024.
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