Oedipus Rex Literary Analysis

Angelina Not
Ms. Kavalauskas
Introduction to Literature
November 20th 2014
Oedipus Rex Summary The tragic Greek play that goes by the name Oedipus Rex by Sophocles was written in 430 BC. The overall message that the author gives and Aristotle evaluates is that fate is unavoidable and is impossible to change. Aristotle also points out that in this story there is clearly the “perfect tragedy”. The “perfect tragedy” exists when in a story there is a tragic hero and his flaw. As the audience knows the tragic hero is Oedipus. Since he is the tragic hero, Oedipus has a tragic flaw as well. His fate is to kill his father and marry his mother. However he tries to escape this prophecy and goes on a long journey away from his home, Corinth,

He becomes the king of the town because the Sphinx was killing all of the people in the city earlier and Oedipus answers her questions so the Sphinx kills herself and so he becomes the savior of the town. The citizens in the town are so grateful to Oedipus because he saves them, that the priest requests for his help and Oedipus agrees to help the town. While Oedipus was on his long journey away from home he killed an old man, who was actually the earlier king of Thebes and his real father. After, Creon goes to Apollo; he says that the killer of the king should be killed. After this Creon goes to Oedipus and tells him about the murder and the punishment that the awful man shall receive for the murder. Oedipus passionately tries to find the killer of the previous king not knowing that the old man he killed a long time a go was actually King Laius; however, he doesn’t know that in fact he is the true killer of king Laius and not only that also that Laius is actually his real dad. On the other hand he tries to search for the killer so intensely that it proves that he is doesn’t know that he himself is the killer of the king. There is a part in the story when the citizens and the priest actually pray to the god because Oedipus has come to save their city from suffering; Oedipus has so much

When Oedipus gets informed he is also told that he is not his real father. When this is told Jocasta realizes remembers that years ago they asked a shepherd to kill the boy in order for the prophecy not to come true, but since in reality the shepherd didn’t kill the boy but actually gave it to Polybus. So the prophecy came true and Oedipus became the son of Polybus. When Jocasta realizes the truth she says her last words and goes away. When the shepherd comes into the room oedipus starts to question him but he refuses to speak, but Oedipus scares him so he tells him the truth; when he was asked to kill the child he couldn’t do it so he gave the baby to Polybus. When Oedipus finally understands that the destiny he was running away his whole life actually became the