Self-Fulfilling Prophecy:
“A false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the originally false conception come true”
“Example #1
One of the best self-fulfilling prophecy examples is in the Greek drama “Oedipus Rex”. Laius, Oedipus father abandoned his son to die after learning the prophecy from the “Oracle of Delphi” that he will kill him one day and marry his mother. He did not die as he was raised by the king and queen of “Corinth”. When he grew up he came to know of the same prophecy from the same source. Not knowing that the king and the queen of Corinth were not his real parents, he traveled toward “Thebes”, the city of his biological parents, in order to avert the prophecy. Ironically, the prophecy fulfilled itself as he killed his father, defeated the “Sphinx”, became the king of Thebes and married his mother.
Example #2
Self-fulfilling prophecy may take the form of a self-fulfilling dream as in the famous work of Arabic literature Arabian Nights. For example, in one of its stories “The Ruined Man Who Became Rich Again Through a Dream”, a man is told in a dream to leave his native city Baghdad and travel to Cairo where he will discover a hidden treasure in a certain place. He does so but soon after facing misfortune loses his belief in that dream and ends up in a jail. He told the story of his dream to an officer who told him that he was a fool but took note of the dream himself. The man returned to Baghdad along with the officer. Finally, the officer discovers the treasure hidden in that man’s home. The prophecy would have been fulfilled for that man, if he had had belief in the prophecy.
Example #3
A classic example of self-fulfilling prophecy is found in Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth”. The three witches tell Macbeth that he will become a king but after him the son of his best friend “Banquo” will ascend the throne. He became a king by killing “Duncan” fulfilling the first half of the prophecy and tried his best to keep his friend’s son away from the throne by killing his best friend and his son “Fleance”. Eventually, the remaining half of the prophecy fulfilled itself. “Macduff” took revenge for his father’s death and killed Macbeth to ascend to the throne. The audience at the time of Shakespeare did understand the fulfillment of the prophecy as later on Macduff was succeeded by “James I of England” who was a descendant of Banquo. Thus, the prophecy was fulfilled.”
9 Fictional Characters Who Really Need To Learn The Definition Of A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
“…Macbeth should have ignored the witches like Banquo…”