In “Oedipus the King,” an infant’s fate is determined that he will kill his father and marry his mother. To prevent this heartache his parents order a servant to kill the infant. The servant takes pity on the infant and gives him to a fellow shepherd, and the shepherd gives him to a king and queen to raise as their own. The young prince learns of the prophecy and flees from his interim parents because he is afraid that he is going to succeed. The young prince eventually accomplishes his prophecy without even knowing he is doing it. He murders his father and marries his mother unknowingly. While it may seem to some that Oedipus was destined to carry out his fate, it is also true that Oedipus’ personality led him to his fate. It is clear to see that Oedipus is an impulsive and passionate man, which causes Oedipus to fulfill the prophecy that haunts him. He flees the kingdom of Corinthian in order to avoid his fate. Along his journey he comes to a crossroad that is blocked by a chariot, and “in a fit of anger” Oedipus kills the father he never knew (Meyer 1422). Oedipus’ anger causes him to kill the father he never knew and all the men in the entourage. Oedipus’ cannot control his temper and this personality flaw leads him to his fate. Another example of Oedipus’ presumptuous temperament is when he immediately assumes that Creon is trying to take his power from him. Creon sends Tiresias to Oedipus to help him solve the crime of the plague, and when Tiresias reveals that Oedipus must die in order to save the people of Thebes, Oedipus assumes Creon is trying to take his throne. Creon even tells Oedipus, “…if you think crude, mindless stubbornness such a gift, you’ve lost your sense of balance” (Meyer 1438). Oedipus’ impulsive nature leads him to discovering the truth and reveals that he has indeed fulfilled the prophecy he was running from. After Oedipus becomes king of Thebes, the people of Thebes become plagued. Oedipus’ feels responsible for saving the people of Thebes. Oedipus’ pride to save the city later turns to pity after he divulges the sin he has committed. His pride forces him to find the traitor who murdered Laius. He eventually finds out that he is the sinner and gouges his eyes out to prove that he is not worthy of sight.
His pride gets him into a lot of bad situations. The ultimate downfall of Oedipus is that he is unwilling to accept is fate. This drives him throughout the whole story to get down to the bottom of numerous questions. Such as, who killed his father? What is his fate and how can he avoid it? Also he was questioning the loyalty of his brother-in-law, Creon. Oedipus is genuinely concerned by the damage the plague is doing to his people and seeks to help. Creon informs him that the plague is the result of King Laius's murder and that the murderer must be found and killed or expelled. Oedipus seeks counsel from Teiresias the prophet. However, the prophet is afraid of divulging the truth about the situation. Reason being is because the prophet knows that Oedipus is guilty of killing his father. However, even though Oedipus has done many things that are frowned upon, the reader has to
In Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, a plague has spread throughout the city of Thebes causing widespread death. Oedipus, the king, sends Creon to the prophet at Delphi to find an answer to the plague and save the people. In order to stop the plague, the prophet says that Oedipus must determine the killer of Laius, the previous king, and banish him from the land. Oedipus is determined to discover the truth, and his path towards the truth results in him questioning several individuals. His determination to solve the plague leads to his eventual discovery of the truth and his downfall. As the mystery surrounding begins to unravel, Oedipus begins to learn about the truth surrounding his birth before discovering the killer of Laius. Throughout the play, Oedipus’s personality propels him toward solving the mystery and discovering the truth. His path towards the truth suggests the dominance of fate in controlling the outcome of his life.
As the play opens, the citizens of Thebes beg their king, Oedipus, to take away the plague that threatens to destroy the city. Oedipus has already sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to the oracle at Delphi to learn what to do.On his return, Creon announces that the oracle instructs the city to find the murderer of Laius, the king who ruled Thebes before Oedipus. The discovery and punishment of the murderer will end the plague. At once, Oedipus sets about to solve the murder.Tiresias, the blind prophet refuses to speak, but finally accuses Oedipus himself of killing Laius. Oedipus orders him to leave, but before he leaves, Tiresias hints of an incestuous marriage, future of blindness, infamy, and wandering. Oedipus then attempts to gain advice from Jocasta. She told him to ignore prophecies because a prophet once told her that Laius, her husband, would be killed by her son. According to Jocasta, the prophecy did not come true because the baby died, and Laius himself was killed by a band of robbers.Oedipus becomes distressed by Jocasta's answers because just before he came to Thebes he killed a man who resembled Laius. To learn the truth, Oedipus sends for the only living witness to the murder, a shepherd. Another worry haunts Oedipus as a young man, he learned from an oracle that he was fated to kill his father and marry his mother.
Oedipus' pride is an innate characteristic. Even before his glory and power as King of Thebes he allowed his conceit to cloud his judgement and rule his actions. Unknowingly, Oedipus fulfills Apollo's oracle when he encounters a band of men at a crossroad. The driver offends Oedipus as he brushes by, inciting Oedipus' anger. Although the contact is just a slight intrusion, Oedipus, outraged that someone would have the gall to trouble him "paid them back with interest" and "killed everyone of them, every mother's son". In hindsight as he recounts the incident to Jocasta he is not remorseful for the loss of life nor for his part in the crime. Instead, Oedipus' tone is one of satisfaction that he got revenge. Had his arrogance not interfered, Oedipus would not have made the rash decision to kill all of the party and would not have satisfied the prophecy.
Oedipus the King is a very interesting play written by Sophocles. It explains the story of the unfortunate prophecy of Oedipus. In this fate, he was supposed to kill his father and marry his mother. It vaguely describes the tragic story of this prophecy and its effects. Oedipus did however possess a tragic flaw that lead to his demise. Anger took over him in most of the play. This lead him to do many things that were not very good for him. For example, Oedipus angrily left his home in Corinth to seek the truth about himself. He also killed Laius at the crossroads while arguing over who had the right of way. This is how his tragic flaw, anger, lead him to his downfall.
Soon, Tiresias repeatedly mentions that the man Oedipus is looking for is present in Thebes, though both the chorus and Oedipus are ignorant to his words. Eventually, Oedipus gets frustrated and accuses Tiresias and Creon of treason, and this does not create much tragic irony, but it shatters Oedipus’s sympathetic trait of being a rational king looking to end the plague.
Oedipus is a story about a few basic human emotions. Among them are rage, passion, humility, and guilt. The Ancient Greeks understood these emotions well; their society was based upon the logical emotions, but always threatened by the violent ones. Oedipus was at first told that he was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. Fearful of himself, he fled showing a lack of humility away from his home, thinking that his problems would be solved. Later on, he gets into a tumultuous fight with a passerby on the road to Thebes. Enraged, he kills the man and his servants; this turned out to be a big mistake. After saving the city of Thebes from the Sphinx, he marries and then passionately sleeps with the queen. Towards the end of the play, he realizes that he has indeed killed his father and married his mother, thus echoing the lack of humility that first drove him away from his adopted parents.
Oedipus’ personality clearly reflects pride and determination throughout the play. When Oedipus heard the oracles’ prediction that he was to kill his father and marry his mother, he was determined to prevent the prophecy. Therefore he left his homeland of Corinth never to return. Then when he solved the Sphinx’s riddle, Oedipus’ pride rose to a new level. He was praised by the people of Thebes, resulting in his marriage to Jocasta, Queen of Thebes. Oedipus also shows his determination when in search of Laius’ murderer. He stated that he would avenge the King’s death as if Laius were his own father. He cursed the murderer, announcing “May he drag out an evil death-in-life in misery.” These characteristics of pride and determination, which Oedipus emanates throughout the play, may appear to be positive attributes to one’s personality. However, Oedipus’ actions, based on these characteristics, are what led him to his eventual downfall and suffrage.
Oedipus demonstrates that he is not a purely evil character by fleeing his home town for safety of others, taking care of his city and accepting responsibility for his actions. Once Oedipus has grown to be a young man he is told that he is to kill his father and sleep with his mother because it is his fate. As a result “I [Oedipus] herd and fled” to Thebes so he can prevent those actions from occurring (822). Oedipus runs away from his fate to help himself out as well as his family. He does not want to kill his father; therefore, he runs away from his fate for the safety of his father. This shows that he is not a purely evil character because he is saving a life and looking after others besides himself. However, running from what he believes is his fate causes him to run into his real fate which leads to his downfall as a leader. On the other hand, it causes Oedipus to take the position as king of Thebes. Being leader of the city, he is forced into
Oedipus was born to King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes. Once his parents heard the prophecy that was bestowed to Oedipus they instantly wanted to get rid of him to avoid the prophecy. Oedipus was given to a couple in Corinth and he was raised by this couple while they were well aware of his prophecy. Once Oedipus had matured he found out about his prophecy. In trying to steer clear of the outcome of the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother he flees from Corinth. While fleeing, he soon encounters a man that sets his road rage over the top. Shortly after he then is asked to become the king of Thebes because the previous king was killed. He accepts this and then marries the queen. He does not seem to notice this could be part of his prophecy.
One event that directly led Oedipus to his fate was at the crossroads where Oedipus killed his biological father unknowingly. If Oedipus has acted wiser when King Laius struck him to move out of the road, Oedipus may have successfully avoided his fate. Oedipus also could have avoided marrying his mother, if he never went to Thebes or defeated the Sphinx by answering the Sphinx’s riddle correctly. Oedipus did have the ability to refuse to take the place of King Laius, he also had the ability to discontinue his investigation of King Laius’ death, however in his own free will Oedipus choose to continue his investigation by dig deeper to the root of his existence. While Oedipus’ personality ensures his fate to become reality, Jocasta and Laius also assisted Oedipus ' destiny to become reality. If Laius never struck Oedipus to move out of the road, King Laius may have returned safely to his queen and avoided his fate of being killed by his own son, and for Jocasta, she could have simply refused to marry someone half her age. After discovering his identity, Oedipus didn’t blame anyone for his misfortune not his parents, the servant that saved him as a baby or even the Oracle but himself. He chose to accept the consequences of his action, as he
In order to escape the prophecy that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother, Oedipus thought it best to leave Corinth. What Oedipus did not know is that the parents he was leaving were not his biological parents. The prophecy stated that Oedipus would commit the crimes upon his natural parents, not his adoptive. Although a valiant effort on Oedipus?s part, leaving the city of Corinth actually enabled the prophecy to become reality. When at a crossroads during his travel away from Corinth, Oedipus happened upon a man and his four servants. After a dispute about who had the right of way, Oedipus killed the man and three out of the four servants. The fourth, a witness that would become an important figure in the future, escaped. Little does Oedipus know that the man he killed was his biological father. Thus, stage one of the prophecy was fulfilled.
When he discovers what he destined to do, he tries to avoid it because he realizes the tragedy of the prophecy. During Oedipus’ rule of Thebes, he was a benevolent king who only wanted to do the right thing for his people. Near the beginning of the play, Oedipus displays a large amount of care for his citizens: “I grieve for these, my people, far more than I fear for my own life.” (Sophocles 159). However Oedipus’ benevolence is set aside for his other ambitions, like discovering his past. When Oedipus discovers what really happens, he becomes distraught, and eventually punishes himself in many ways, but in doing so also reveals that he cares about doing what is right for his people, his children, and for
From the very beginning, Oedipus was destined to fulfill Apollo's prophecy of killing his father. Even though King Lauis tries to kill Oedipus to stop the fulfillment of this shameful prophecy, fate drives the Corinthian messenger to save Oedipus. What the gods fortell will come true and no human can stop it from happening, not even the kings. Oedipus is once again controlled by this power when he leaves the place of his child hood after he hears that he is to kill his father and marry his mother. "I shall shrink from nothing...to find the the murderer of Laius...You are the murderer..." Oedipus tried to stop the prophecy from coming true by leaving Corinth and only fate can make Oedipus turn to the road where he kills his true father. Leaving Corinth makes Oedipus lose his childhood by making him worry of such issues young people should not have to worry about and becoming a king of a strange land. Last of all, Oedipus carries the last part of the prophecy out, marrying his mother. " I would... never have been known as my mother's husband. Oedipus has no control over the outcome of his life. Fate causes Oedipus to have known the answer to the Sphinx's riddle and win his marriage to his mother, Jocasta. Had fate not intervened, the chances of marrying Jocasta would have been small since there is an enourmous number of people and places to go. Oedipus loses his sense of dignity after he discovers he is not only a murderer, but also that he had committed incest.
The impetus for the downfall of Oedipus, "Known far and wide by name" (Sophocles, 1), is his anger. Enraged he slew King Laius and in anger he hastily pursued his own ruination. From the aforementioned recriminations of Tiresias to the conflict with his brother-in-law Creon (his ill temper again displayed - "Tempers such as yours most grievous to their own selves to bear,... .(Sophocles, 25); through the revealing exchanges with his wife/mother Jocasta and her slave (whose pity saved the infant Oedipus), damming insight grows in a logical sequence, all the while fueled by the Oedipal rage. Realizing the heinous nature of his actions, Oedipus blinds himself in a fit of anger and remorse - now, as Tiresias, he can see.