President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed "Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds" (Quote Details). It is believed that if a chain of events has been prophesied, then that person's choice and freedom will inevitably lead him to what has been predicted for his destiny. The idea that fate is the most powerful force on men is essential in this play of Oedipus the King. Perhaps the most incontrovertible example of fate in this play is that of the prophecy made regarding the birth of Oedipus; Oedipus was destined to kill his father and sleep with his mother “no matter what he or anyone else might do to prevent it and regardless of the tortuous causal path needed to get there” (Solomon). In the tragedy of Oedipus the Gentle, it is at the hands of his own weakness that he creates a wave of misfortune; It is through fate, free will, and Oedipus' pride that led to his tragic downfall. Within the play, Oedipus describes fate as "The darkness! / Horror of the enveloping darkness, irresistible, unspeakable visitor / accelerated by an evil wind in haste!" (1391-1393). Destiny was seen as if man's consent was inevitable, unspeakable and unstoppable; to which it remained to say that fate always had the last word. Laius and Jocasta, who are Oedipus' biological parents, attempted to avoid the cruel hand of fate by leaving their infant son to die on a mountainside, and Oedipus attempted to avoid this by leaving the home of the people who raised him with the conjecture that they were his natural parents. Despite all these efforts to change one's destiny and avoid the prophecy declared by Tiresias, the inevitable still occurred and the prophecy emerged within the work. Oedipus with all his strength could not turn...... in the center of the sheet ......dipus Rex: Destiny, Truth and Egoic Will 2.2 (2006): n. page Canadian Social Sciences. Network. April 8, 2011.Gass, Sally. "Oedipus Rex." Inside Out 1 (2005): 1.8. Denver Center Theater Company. Network. April 8, 2011.Jackson, Wendell. "Oedipus the King." The humanities in the ancient and premodern world: An African emphasis. Needham Heights, MA: Pearson Custom Pub., 1999. 227 (1150-1160, 418-445, 1391-1393). Print."Lesson on Sophocles, Oedipus the King." Vancouver Island University, Degree Programs in Canada - Master and Bachelor Education Degrees Canada | VIU. Np, Oct. 9, 2000. Web. Apr. 7, 2011. http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/introser/oedipus.htm."Quote Details." Famous quotes and sayings - The quotes page. Np, nd Web. April 6, 2011. http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/3250.html.Solomon, Robert C. Eastern and Western Philosophy. vol. 53, no. 4 (October 2003), pp. 435-454