Fate, is the evil temptress that stalks and haunts all men. Her judgement is binding and can not be changed by any man. There is no peasant, or priest, or even a king of Oedipus' stature that can divert from her woven path. Oedipus tries to divert from her path by taking a shortcut from the destination that she has set out for him. Try as he may, Oedipus instead, finds himself walking in a circle that in the end just leads him into the inevitable destation that was set out for him long ago.
Oedipus though, is not the first person who starts this compulsion of trying to run away from his destiny. King Laius, Oedipus' father by blood, tries to get rid of Oedipus in the hills of Cithaeron after hearing of a prophecy "that it was [his] fate that he should die a victim at the hands of his own son..." . King Laius tries to take every precaution to make sure that Oedipus will not survive, by piercing his ankles and putting them in shakles. Even so, fate intervens again, when a shepherd of the King finds Oedipus and gives him to a vagabonds. The vagabond gives Oedipus to King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth, the people who Oedipus would know as his parents until one faithful day at a party.
Later in life, when Oedipus is older a drunk man at a party, calls Oedipus a bastard. Oedipus tells his "parents", who in turn try to comfort him. Though, the comfort from Oedipus' parents do nothing to soothe him and he goes to the oracle at Delphi. While at Delphi, the oracle tells Oedipus that he will "defile [his] mother's bed... [and] muder the father that endengered him". Oedipus fearing the prophecy, tries to escape and becomes a vagabond. Oedipus goes traveling and while on the road he unwittingly encouters his father, King Laius. The king's party tries to drive Oedipus off the road and Oedipus goes irrate and kills his father along with almost everyone in his party. Therefore, by killing his father he has completed the first half of the prophecy for himself and also...