Living Authority In Oedipus Rex

Authority plays an important role in determining the outcome in the lives of living creatures. It varies in its different forms, whether parental, religious, political, or even supernatural. The supernatural played an important role in authorizing the lives of the Ancient Greeks, in both real life and literature. In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, the Prophecy, the Sphinx, and the Gods are seen to produce an important authoritative role in the lives of the characters and result in further consequences. The Prophecy stated that Oedipus would murder his father and marry his mother. Oedipus is affected by the Prophecy in two main stages of his life. His infancy as the son of Polybus, and his adulthood as King of Thebes where the two stages of his life that were affected by the Prophecy. Oedipus, before Oedipus was born, a Prophecy arouse that would determine his fate. This lead his biological parents to give up their baby, by sending him to be murdered. But due to the role of fate in the life on Oedipus, he was not murdered, but was instead given to a family that would grow up to take care of him and eventually become his adoptive parents Polybus and Merope. Thus, it is clear that the first time the Prophecy affected his life, was in his infancy, in which he was ripped away from his family in order to die. Years later, after Oedipus was crowned as king of Thebes, he began the search to find the murderer of Laius which would eventually lead him to discovering out that he is