Evil In Oedipus The King

Costen King

ACP 110

February 14th, 2016

Oedipus Tyrannosaurus

An interesting point that you brought up in class was the phrase Basileus; this phrase was brought into discussion by the term Persian Basileus while discussing what other leaders were alive at the time of Oedipus. After some research into this phrase I have made some very interesting findings. A Basileus is the greek term for a ruler that has arisen from power fairly and honorably, most likely either voted into power by the republic or serving his lineage on the throne. But the same greek word, with a different definition, tyrant, or tyrannos, is the negative connotation of the same phrase. It is someone who came into power any other way: murder, treason, wrongdoings, etc. Oedipus- who clearly has a slew of traits that are suited for both denotations of the singular meaning, is harder to classify. With him

While the entire plot to this point, leads up to us believing that Oedipus is a brutal tyrant. As the text continues on, he is exposed as the true-born Basileus. The throne he sits upon is his late fathers, who he killed. A tyrannical leader who was elected as a Basileus, which sounds like quite the contradiction. Through a sick twist of incest, slaughter, and pure fate, Oedipus is a perplexity in himself. It is not until later that we find out that Oedipus is truly tyrannically by destiny and nature itself. He may of done his best to be revered as just and appeasing to the people, destiny had other plans for him. We see this in the fact that Oedipus believes that he would serve his people the best by being blind instead of dead, even though all of the citizens found out about his wrong doings, and the pain that he has brought upon his city. He believed that he could still be the Basileus to his people, even after his status as tyrant was justified by the actions that carried him into the position as their