“Every man has his own destiny: the only imperative is to follow it, accept it, wherever it leads.” In other words, the connotation of this anonymous quote states that no matter what you choose to decide, the outcome of your choices and decisions will still depend on your predetermined destiny. Sophocles' tragedy, Oedipus the King, demonstrates this statement throughout the play in the role of its tragic hero Oedipus. In the course of Oedipus' actions in trying to escape his fated fortune, his fate and flaws as a human being played an important role in bringing about his downfall. Oedipus' fate was already predetermined by an oracle at Delphi before the moment of his birth; therefore, despite the choices made by the people who played a role in his fate, he became one step closer to his destiny. The prophecy was first given to his parents, Jocasta and Laius, saying that their son was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. This, of course, struck fear into the hearts of Jocasta and Laius. To escape this fate, they had decided to order a henchman to leave the child on a mountainside with his legs tied so that he would die of exposure. They believed that their actions would thereby increase the failure to fulfill the prophecy; however, the parents were unaware of whether or not the child had died or lived. With pity, the henchman instead took the child to the city of Corinth to be raised under the throne of Polybus and Merope, of whom Oedipus grew up thinking he was a legitimate son. The actions of Laius and Jocasta played an important role in the development of the fulfillment of the prophesied destiny. Laius and Jocasta believed in the Oracle, but they also believed they could control their own destiny. S...... half of the paper ......u. What does this mean exactly? Do you control your destiny by accepting it? Or do you just live your life without trying to know what your destiny will be? Or is he simply saying that no matter what you do, your destiny will be fulfilled with or without your help? It seems likely that the point is to simply live your life and not worry about what fate brings you because when you try to control the uncontrollable, you pretty much end up writing yourself into a corner. Throughout the play we see Oedipus breaking away from fate and trying to escape it. It would seem that he would lose all hope because no matter what he does, the prophecies made for him continue to come true. Sophocles was probably trying to say live your life. You can't change your destiny, so why not just keep it as a surprise? Don't waste time on oracles and don't try to control your destiny.