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The actions of Oedipus are irrelevant he is simply a victim of fate.
In the end of the play Oedipus has been totally destroyed, from a tyrannun to a blind exiled man with insensate agony. When thinking reason of his downfall critics often think his flaw cause that. He has violence, spontaneous, strong mind. However these flaws don’t bear the causal relationship to the end. He did try to avoid tragedy. In the end outcome is what has been forecasted. Oedipus acceptance and self-blinding tells he give up. He is undoubtedly the victim of the cursed family, a cursed fate.
He had abundant controls over the events of his "destiny" through the numerous decisions he made. He chose to believe the oracle and leave Corinth, to kill Laius, to marry Jocasta. He chose the mission of discovering the identity killer of Laius. He carried on this mission and ignored the warnings of Creon, Jocasta, the messenger, and anyone that attempted to stand between him and the truth to prevent him to know the reality. And he did blind himself. If Oedipus was indeed a powerless slave of fate, the play would likely be meaningless at all.
It is true that he has flaws. He was arrogant to kill other man over a traffic block. He was spontaneous to be angry with Tiresias and laugh at him, to accuse Creon of envy. Was it however really the cause of his destruction? If it was because of his fate, he marry his mother and kill his father. Would that matter that he had a flaws or not? This play is not tell whether fate or character flaw is What this play really want to tell is that fate can’t not be control by people not matter how strong he was. We are ruled by our fate. Even though Oedipus was not a powerless pawn. He had power. He tried to escape his wretched fate when he first heard from the oracle he still played through the prophecy.
Fate, or divine will, shows itself in a number of ways.
Divine will is definitely present. So is free will. Before the play started, Oedipus made the choice to leave his “parents” and moved to Thebes. He then chose, though ruled by anger, to kill an old man blocking his path, who later is discovered to be his real father, King Laius. Sure, free will that made him kill Laius that day, in that way. But it was fate that made Oedipus kill his father. Fate made him marry his mother. Maybe he could prevent this. However what he did against fate was revealing his fate. He did leave Corinth, tried to leave his “mother”, but fate lead him to Thebes, where his real mother lives. His free will or his action made him save the city. However his fate cause him marry his mother.
Ultimately, Oedipus’ real mistake isn’t killing his father and marrying his mother, its trying to go against the gods and fate. That is why he’s cursed in Oedipus the King. The flaw in Oedipus' character (arrogant and stubbornness) in [next page]