1. One of the most repeated elements in the Greek tragedy is prophecy.

it
could not be otherwise, since the same occurs with Homeric poems, the
source of almost all Greek literature.
2. As well as many other protagonists of the Greek tragedies, Oedipus a
mythical king of Thebes, a character whose tragic story begins with a
prophecy; and it is that his father, the king of Thebes, received from the
oracle the omen that if he fathered a male child, he would end up killing him
once he grew up and became an adult.
3. In this way, we can see how Greek literature has exploited one of the
interests that humans have had since they have consciousness, the interest
in accessing the future. The human has been in an incessant search for a
figure, an object, a deity, a ritual, which allows him to access the future.
4. But this is not arbitrary, humans are interested in time in general. We have
always wanted to know everything related to the future, but also what
happened in the past and what happens in the present.
5. However, the future has been so elusive to men, that the magical and the
fantastic always appear when man reflects on the future. That is why, since
ancient times, the figure of the oracle was proposed, as that character
whose wisdom was so great that he knew everything in the world, but also
what is not of this world, and among these things is the future.
6. The oracle is a central character in the tragedy of Sophocles, since thanks
to him the story acquires movement. That is, the Oedipus story has begun
before Oedipus was born, because the oracle has already made its
prophecy about it. Oedipus was born years before his mother gave birth,
why his father, Laius had already accessed the future, had already seen
how his son would kill him in the future.
7. It is interesting how the prophecy means only a fragment of the future. This
means that the prophecy that the oracle gives to Laius is only a small part of
the future, however, the totalizing gaze that characterizes humans makes
Laius believe that eradicating that small fragment of the future he has
completely changed the future.
8. This point also reveals something interesting about the oracle, and in
general of this type of figures that try to serve as a bridge between humans
and the future. In general, these characters never reveal the totality of the
events of the future, so the prophecy that they give to those who come to
them, even if they are real, depends on the interpretation of the
protagonists.
9. Laius interpreted the prophecy that the oracle gave him in his own way and
for that reason he made the decision to get rid of Oedipus. Layo did not
have the hidden details in his prophecy and when his wife and queen,
Yocasta, became pregnant, the darkest thoughts hung over Layo. Fear
sparked his survival instinct, so when his son was born, he did not hesitate
to cross his tiny and delicate feet with fibulae, handing him over to a
shepherd to abandon him to his fate. The king of Thebes believed that in
this way he would be able to live and challenge his destiny. He did not see
himself able to kill his own son, for this reason he thought that leaving him
abandoned, and prevented, would make the baby die.
10. Although as already said, Oedipus came into the world before birth, he
survived before his father left him with wounded feet, because since the
oracle revealed the existence of Oedipus, the firstborn, he also revealed his
destiny, so Oedipus did not he could die without first fulfilling the prophecy.
11. Oedipus was abandoned on Mount Cithaeron, but far from dying alone and
badly wounded, he was picked up by King Polibo of Corinth. His wife,
Mérope, raised the little boy, and it was precisely she who gave him this
name. A name that came to mean something like swollen feet, something
that was undoubtedly quite correct.
12. When Oedipus grew, he began to suspect that something was wrong with
his origin. It was not entirely clear that he was really the son of his father
and mother, so he decided to go to the Oracle at Delphi to answer his
question. The problem is that from said Oracle, what he achieved was a
rather horrible omen. He would kill his father and then marry his mother.
Given the fright that said omen caused in Oedipus, the young man decided
 to leave Corinth and never return, convinced that he could thus escape his
destiny.
13. Here another prophecy appears, which is not another prophecy but is the
same view from other eyes, from another perspective, that of Oedipus who
moves away from Polibo and Mérope trying to escape his destiny, but as we
have already said, of destiny nobody escapes, that's why these works are
called tragedies.
14. After surviving so many obstacles, unknowingly defeating Laius in battle and
killing him, Oedipus arrives at Thebes and marries Yocasta, with whom he
had some children. Without realizing it, the prophecies of the Oracle had
already been fulfilled, and just as the death of his father and then that of his
mother and wife were inevitable events, Oedipus' life was an inevitable
tragedy, long before Oedipus was born.