Oedipus - defying the divine order

Through the character of Oedipus, Sophocles shows the futility and consequences of defying the divine order. Oedipus served Thebes as a great ruler, loved by his subjects; but it is his one tragic flaw, arrogance, which dooms his existence, regardless of the character attributes that make him such a beloved king. From the opening dialogue we sense the character of Oedipus. When confronted by his subjects praying for relief of the plague he reacts kingly …

…he is not fated to die now, but some other time. "I have been saved, preserved, kept alive for some strange fate....When that thing comes, let it take me where it will." The wisdom gained through the ordeal has exposed him to the power and truth of the gods as well as the acceptance of what he cannot control combined with the realization of the limits of his own mortal control over the universe.