Oedipus the King, is a play introduced in (c. 430 B.C). Written by Sophocles, the play introduces a story about a king name Oedipus. Oedipus lived a fair life, until one day his life becomes a tragedy. Soon Oedipus has to face the outcomes of the issues he created. Oedipus reveals greatness and disaster because the quote defines his journey, greatness links to the beginning of his life and disaster connects to the end.
The Queen who was Laios' wife, is also Oedipus's mother, who he will marry as the new king of Thebes and contribute even more to his eventual downfall and death. Oedipus was taught to believe his parents were Polybus and Merope, when he hears word that those may not be his parents he decides he must know the answer. Oedipus decides to go to Thebes and find the truth of his origin. During the journey he ends up fulfilling an earlier prophecy that he would kill his father. Later on in the plat, Oedipus decides he must find the truth about who killed king Laios and ironically enough it is he who killed the king.
Once Oedipus thought that Creon was going to plot against him for the throne, he wanted to kill Creon rather than banish him. In the play, Oedipus states, “Well, let him go then - if I must die ten times for it, or be sent out dishonored into exile.” Oedipus is says this after the Chorus tells him that it would be wrong to let him die without God’s blessing. Oedipus decides not to kill Creon and is accompanied inside the palace by Jocasta and the Chorus. Later in the play when Oedipus seeks more knowledge about who is to blame for the killing of Laius and the prophecy, he seeks help from the Herdsman. After the Herdsman revealed to Oedipus that Laius and Jocasta were his parents, he grew strong in grievance.
All that misery which stems from Oedipus? There’s no suffering, no shame , no ruin-not one dishonour- which I have not seen in all the troubles you and I go through” (Antigone 305). This tells us how bad the Fate was in Oedipus family. Creon’s destiny was to be alone after his decisions of leading the death of his loved
In many people’s eyes, it is seen that fate is something that one can not escape. In Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, Oedipus gives a speech to the citizens of Thebes, about the murder of their previous leader, Laius. And in this speech, he explains the hardship that the murderer will have to eventually face. In Oedipus’s speech from Oedipus Rex, Sophocles uses the literary device of dramatic irony to develop the central idea that fate is destined to happen, and can possibly bring more intensified consequences when avoided. If one tries to escape their fate, the conflicts that occur can be more severe than they were supposed to be.
This creates a metaphor, which provides a perspective on the over-whelming powers of the vengeance and the gods. The image of an enormous, unstoppable wave, “like a wave cresting of the black northeast” (Sophocles, pg.215) reinforces that the Oedipus children cannot escape from this punishment. This also provides a visual imagery of the events taking place in Scene II and the future happenings for Antigone. Also, “wind whipped sand” (Sophocles, pg.215) associates to the Oedipus’ family that have previously encountered the hardship and the death of Oedipus, his father, and his mother. This may foreshadow that other Oedipus’ relatives such as Antigone will have more obstacles and challenges
Since he is born Oedipus was living in the lie. He never knew who were his real parents and what was the real story hidden behind his entire life until it was reavealed to him. Oedipus was born to be a king. Being a king in a certain way helped him discover the truth about his life. Thebes was suffering and Oedipus, as a king, was responsible of solving the problem to save his people from the burden they were carrying.
Freud's interpretation of the myth about Oedipus has created the term "Oedipus complex" and so described the pathological attachment to the mother, though the myth was not originally the spoke about that phenomenon. Oedipus believed that his parents were King Polybus and Queen Merope, who adopted and with whom he grew up. Oedipus, therefore, didn't know that Jocasta was his mother, and his sexual preference was not directed at his mother, rather than a woman unknown to him until then, nor did he know the man he killed was his true father Lai. Since we began to understand Oedipus just as suggested by an interpreter of myth, the famous Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud. The proof we can find in the following dialog of Oedipus and Jocasta: Jocasta: Unlucky man, may you never learn who you are.
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles shows the readers that people may want an event to happen, but if it is destined to happen there is no escape or what someone wanted to come out of the event may not happen. When faced with the truth, everyone has options; what matters is not the information revealed, but rather how people choose to deal with reality of how those decisions change lives. Laius and Jocasta’s choices of killing Oedipus on a mountain, and trying to deny his prophecy, that he would kill his father and marry his mother, was dramatically changed when he was saved by a servant. Oedipus wants to be a great king, however his life problems limited his possibilities to rule Thebes. Jocasta tries everything possible so that Oedipus does not find out the truth, however he continues to search and he eventually finds out the truth about his family and childhood, which leads to a lot of tragedy.
He broke moral laws when he married his mother, and even when he killed his father. He felt that he was “Oedipus The Great,” and that he could escape his prophecy. This was shown when Oedipus was told by the god’s that he would marry his mother, and in rebuking that, he stated that he will leave Corinth, and will never do such a thing. Tiresias stated the flaw best when he said “You blame my temper, but you are unaware of the one you live with.” Meaning that Oedipus’ arrogance and bad temper are his problems/flaws. The king felt that the gods words were untrue and his fate was something that he could prevent, but he really couldn’t.