Tragic Flaws of Oedipus “Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness” (King Jr). Currently, we are living in an era that is filled with much greed and selfishness. However, selfishness and greed is a natural trait of the human population. The difference maker in each individual person is amount of selfishness that is chosen to be revealed. For example, in World War II, Hitler’s choice to invade Russia was what ultimately caused his own defeat (Bullock). The dictator of Germany had already conquered the majority of Europe and had no intentions of stopping. This greed and selfishness of Hitler was what ultimately dug himself his own grave. This has been a continuous act throughout history as shown in the story “Oedipus Rex”. This story written in 430 B.C, revolves around a man named Oedipus that has a strange fate (Senaca, Boyle). His unfortunate fate will eventually cause him to act in selfish manner that will ruin his life.
In this story, Oedipus is a born into royalty but daunted with a fate that is unforgiveable. Once born, a prophet gave the information to the parents that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother. With this horrendous information, the parents made the decision to kill Oedipus. As the servant went into the woods to kill the infant, his conscious would not allow him to finish the execution. Scared to go back with the infant, the servant handed the baby off to Polybus and his wife. Growing up, Oedipus did not question that he could be adopted until his early adult years. Once Oedipus started questioning his parents and his possible adoption, Oedipus went to the prophet. The prophet told him of his adoption and that his fate included killing his father and marrying his mother. The story continues with Oedipus leaving the home of Polybus and traveling down a cross road. At this road, Oedipus and an elder man get into an argument that ends with the death of the elder. With the killing of the elder, Oedipus runs into Thebes where a sphinx had cursed the land. Oedipus solves a riddle that ultimately makes the people of the land ask him to become king since their king was mysteriously missing. At this point, Oedipus marries the queen and starts looking for Laius, the missing king. Through the cities search for Laius, Oedipus discovers that fate is too strong to dodge. At the cross road in the beginning of the story, Oedipus had killed Laius. Oedipus at this point in the story finally realizes that he had killed his father and married his mother, just like the prophecy had predicted.
There are many times in this story that Oedipus selfishness and ignorance causes him to fulfil his prophecy. The selfishness starts with the moment Oedipus leaves Polybus’s home to try to seek a way out of his prophecy. This shows selfishness because this family has loved Oedipus just like he was their own. Oedipus just ran away without any thought of what it could mean to the family. In addition, Oedipus leaving home starts the prophecy that causes him to kill his father at the crossroad. Secondly, Oedipus reason for the fight at the crossroad is a complete pride ordeal. At the crossroad, Laius and Oedipus both insisted that the other go first out of respect. Neither would go which ultimately caused the death of Laius. This shows selfishness because, Oedipus put his pride before human life. This could be the ultimate selfish act of the entire story and it caused the domino effect of the whole prophecy to come together.
Oedipus’s final acts of selfishness come when he finally accepts that he is the murderer of Laius. When Oedipus finds out that the father who raised him has died from natural causes. Oedipus becomes happy at the fact that he is not the murder, but does no mourning for the man that raised him. As everything unfolds, Oedipus discovers that in fact he is the murderer of his father. He then goes to his wife to only find her killed by herself. Oedipus then decides to gouge his own eyes so that he does not have to see what he has done.
Oedipus selfish decisions caused him to do exactly what he was trying not to do. Oedipus found a way to hurt an entire city by only his human emotions. Oedipus caused his own tragic fall and it is a shame that this is still happening today. Selfishness is one of the biggest emotions of humans and it cause minor issues to full-fledged world disasters. From issues like global warming to issues that involve war, the acts of selfishness have cost many people their dreams and or lives. Through the story of Oedipus Rex, it is shown that the human population is flawed beyond measure. Even the best of people can make the worst of mistakes and vice versa. The lessons taught in this story are tragic but that is the end results at times when being selfish. Hopefully the human population can learn from this story and start with understanding selfish actions will ultimately hurt in the long run.

Works Cited
Bullock, Alan. Hitler: A Study in Tyranny. Completely Rev. ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1962. Print.
Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, and A. J. Boyle. Oedipus. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.