Destiny caught up to Oedipus in Oedipus the King which makes this play a Theban tragedy. Initially, an Oracle told Laius that his son would one day kill him, so when his son was born he banished him with death. Laius should have killed his own son or watched him die, to make sure that his own future was secure. Instead he set himself up for the Oracle's predictions to come true. Next, the over-zealous Oedipus exaggerated on the punishment that the murderer of Laius deserved. Oedipus never imagined that he was the one who earned this sentence. Last, all the characters in the play were blind to the fact that you can not change what the Oracle predicts. This play is a tragedy because everyone was involved in a disastrous ending caused by a predetermined fate.

Jocasta and Laius conceived a son after the Oracle told them...