The Tragic Analysis Of Oedipus The King

“Oedipus is, as it were, only a tragic analysis. Everything is already in existence, and has only to be unraveled.” Throughout the history of literature, there has been perhaps no other character quite as complex and convoluted as Oedipus. Whether it be the reality of his parents abandoning him to die or the mere fact that he married his own mother Jocasta, Oedipus has been continually analyzed and processed by scholars in an attempt to discover the means by which Oedipus arrived at his eventual outcome. To summarize, Oedipus, being originally from Corinth, travels to Thebes in search of his true heritage. After a series of events, Oedipus becomes the king of Thebes and soon discovers the truth. Once thorough deliberation has been given to …show more content…

However, consumed by his desire to seek knowledge, Oedipus ironically ignores all of the signs that point toward the truth. One such instance is when he is speaking to Jocasta, and she mentions how “[Oedipus is] doomed / – may [he] never fathom who [he is]!” (Sophocles, 1173-1174). Regardless of how closely related and similar both his and Laius’s predictions from the Oracle of Delphi are, Oedipus ignores the absolute truth. Another such instance is when Jocasta mentions how Laius had been “killed by strangers,/ thieves, at a place where three roads meet” (Sophocles 789-790). Although Oedipus recognizes that he had also killed a man at a crossroads, he refuses to believe the truth. Mr. Weil mentions how, despite most scholars believing Oedipus journeys from ignorance to knowledge, “his ignorance is self-willed. Oedipus has been told the truth and he has refused to recognize it-or even test it” (Weil). Anyone can see the validity of this statement once all of the hints and comments of Oedipus’s heritage are presented. He is consistently given the opportunity to accept the truth but he rejects any possibility. “The play is a tragedy not of divine fate but of human knowing”