Conflict In Oedipus The King

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Sophocles’ Oedipus the King features a tragic storyline, conveyed through two of its main characters, Oedipus and Jocasta. Starting after their marriage, Sophocles begins writing of Oedipus’ journey to discover who murdered Laios, former king of Thebes. While ruthless in his attempt to discover the truth, Oedipus and Jocasta slowly panic upon discovering that the latter gave birth to current King Oedipus. Their misfortunate only worsens as they develop ways to cope, ultimately trying to forget and destroy their knowledge. Sophocles successfully shares Oedipus the King through utilizing characters Laios, Jocasta, and Oedipus to convey a recurring pattern which suggests ignorance is bliss.
While Laios dies prior to the first scene, those who outlive him suggest he lived happily, under the impression that his son already died. Since Laios does not appear in Oedipus the King, it becomes difficult to analyzing his opinions about his own life. Laios only survives in the whole plot, and does not appear in the actual play. Despite miniscule descriptions of Oedipus’ agony, there is no proof that Laios was unhappy (1-39). In fact, Laios believed that his son was killed by the Theban shepherd after hearing of Apollo’s prophecy. Sophocles keeps Laios from emotional despair, instead killing …show more content…

Laios escapes sorrow and dies early on to introduce the idea that ignorance is bliss, which Sophocles returns to throughout his writing. Jocasta avoids reality by killing herself before actually having proof that Oedipus is her son. While Oedipus relentlessly attempts to find Laios’ murderer, his reality ruins any attempt at a normal life, and he blinds himself to avoid excessive misery. Jocasta, and Oedipus take away their concepts of knowledge in order to allay their pain, even if that means taking violent measures to destroy their

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