Oedipus Acceptance of Responsibility - Essay Example

It is because it was Oedipus’ actions directly led him to commit these atrocities that he takes responsibility for them. The gods might have fated Oedipus to perform the actions, but what they didn’t actually do was to ordain the specific line of action that led him to these actions. When Oedipus heard of the prophecy, he attempted to change it by leaving what he thought was his birthplace. He didn’t trust himself enough to not kill the man he thought was his father and then marry his mother: “So for years I’ve given Corinth a wide berth/…so I wouldn’t kill my father.

” It was because he didn’t trust himself to not perform these acts he would never knowingly do that he put himself in a position to unknowingly perform them.“But the hand that struck my eyes was mine,/ mine alone—no one else—/ I did it all myself!” If Oedipus didn’t want to fulfill the prophecy, he could have chosen not to kill anyone or to marry someone younger than him. But because he himself chose his line of action which fulfilled the prophecy, he accepted responsibility for his own actions.