Oedipus The King

Oedipus the King is a tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed around 429 BC. The action of the play concerns the search of Oedipus for the murderer of Laius to end a plague affecting Thebes, unaware that the killer he is looking for is himself.

In his works, Aristotle, a tragedy must be an imitation of life in the form of a serious story that is realistic and narrow in focus. According to the philosopher, a good tragedy evokes pity and fear in its audience, causing the viewers to experience catharsis, which means “purification” in Greek. Aristotle also claimed that a good tragic hero has to be better than an average man but also imperfect. This should be a character with both good and evil features. Oedipus is exactly that very tragic

An example of it would be the way the King had sent Creon to the Oracle of Delphi even before he was asked by the citizens to do something about the plague. Oedipus seems to do exactly what a great ruler has to do. At the beginning of the play Oedipus is confident and proud of himself as he saved Thebes from the curse. He says: “Here I am myself— / you all know me, the world knows my fame: / I am Oedipus”. He says those words as if he is the very healing of the curse.

On the other hand, Oedipus demonstrates rash anger in the case of killing the band of travelers at the crossroads. He unknowingly killed his father then, which led to Oedipus’s downfall. During the play we see Oedipus’s anger several times, for instance, when he talks to Creon in a rude manner (Creon brought bad

He relies on his own ability to find the truth, which demonstrates that Oedipus is a thinker. He is very smart, which also proves that he is better than an average man: he was the only one capable of solving the Sphinx’s riddle. It is noticeable that Oedipus was the only man could “see” the solution to the Sphinx’s riddle. However, he is “blind” to the truth, which he is looking for. Therefore, the presence of Teiresias is important – he is an old man who can “see” the truth without using his sight. Oedipus is the opposite, a man with eyes who is blind of the truth, which seems to be obvious. In the case of Teiresias “eyes” is used as a metaphor; Sophocles does not compare Teiresias and Oedipus, however, he puts them together so that the audience compares them and sees how opposite they are in the way of “seeing” the