The Oedipus Complex in Oedipus the King

757 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analysis the character of oedipus

In Oedipus the King, once upon a time in a kingdom far, far away Queen Jocasta was expecting a baby boy, but one day Tiresias (a blind prophet) dropped by one day to see the queen to give her bad news about her baby. Tiresias said "My queen, the son you will bear will kill his father and marry his mother!!!" The queen was appalled by this news, thus, after the queen had her son she immediately drove him away, by leaving him in the dark, verdant woods. A herder from another kingdom found the baby boy and immediately notified his king about the baby. The king adopted the newborn boy and named it Oedipus. When Oedipus was grown up (in his twenties) he heard a legend that a prince from a kingdom far, far away will kill his father and marry his own mother. Oedipus was frightened that he will kill his father and own marry his own mother so he embarked on a journey to escape the myth. When Oedipus was traveling in his chariot he met a man in the middle of the desert, and the young arrogant Oedipus killed the man. (He did not know that he just killed his biological father) In the gates of Thebes, a sphinx was guarding the kingdom slithering back and forth. Oedipus finally talks to the sphinx, ?Maybe you can spare us some food, my kingdom was shambling into death.? ?Well, well, do you want to enter the kingdom to speak to the queen?. ? ?Yes,? replied Oedipus ?I have a riddle for you my child. If you answer it correctly, you may talk to the queen and you have heard about our king who has been missing for days. We assumed he is rotting in the middle of the desert. I guess the vultures will have a feast? In addition to talking to the queen about your discrepancies you can also marry the widowed queen.? The sphinx asked Oedipus, ?What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?? ?A man,? Oedipus replied and he was correct. So basically he can marry the queen of Thebes and that makes him the king of Thebes. (But keep in mind Oedipus is going to marry his own mother.) The King had the Queen of Thebes four children, two sons, Eyocles and Polynices and two daughters, Ismene and Antigone.

Show More
Related

  • The Selfishness of Oedipus in Oedipus the King

    967 Words  | 2 Pages

    The selfishness that Oedipus possesses causes him to have abundance of ignorance. This combination is what leads to his father’s death. After fleeing Corinth and his foster family, Oedipus gets into a skirmish with an older man. The reason for the fight was because, “The groom leading the horses forced me off the road at his lord’s command” (1336). Oedipus is filled with a rage after being insulted by the lord and feels the need to act. The two men fight, but Oedipus ends up being too much for the older man, and he kills him. What Oedipus is unaware of is that the man was actually his birth father and by killing him, Oedipus has started on the path of his own destruction. Not only does Oedipus kill his father, but also everyone else, “I killed them all” (1336). The other men had no part in the scuffle, but in his rage, he did not care who he was killing.

    Read More

  • Proactive or Paranoid?

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Oedipus the King, Oedipus is told that he will marry his mother and murder his father. He is told by the Delphic oracle this information but he wants to change his fate so he banishes himself from what he believes is place of birth. As he is wondering, he stumbles across a caravan. After some arguing, due to his hubris, he kills all the men in the caravan. One of the men in the caravan turned out to be his father, King Laios. Oedipus at the time did not know this. He then entered the city of Thebes and broke the plague of the sphinx by solving its riddle. Because of this he was awarded the recently widowed Queen Iocaste, who is actually his mother. He married Iocaste and had children with her.

    Read More

  • Compare Hamlet And Oedipus

    1275 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oedipus is the son of the king and queen of Thebes. A prophet tells the king and queen that his son will kill him. This causes the king and queen to become worried of the possibilities so they decide to kill their son in order to prevent the predictions of the prophet from becoming true. However, Oedipus did not die and instead was rescued and eventually adopted. As time progresses Oedipus is told that he will kill his father and this frightens Oedipus so he decides to get as far as possible from his parents. During Oedipus’s journey he stumbles upon his biological father and he was unable to control his anger so he killed his father. As time goes on he eventually marries the queen of Thebes also known as his mom. He found out that her husband was killed a long time ago so Oedipus decided to investigate. A prophet tells Oedipus that he was the one that killed the king who was his father. Oedipus is angered and is told to stop trying to solve the mystery. Oedipus eventually discovers that what the prophet told him was true and is angered. He eventually meets his end. In this case Oedipus’s biggest flaw is his anger. His anger eventually causes him to face defeat. “Who would not feel his temper rise at words like these with which you shame our city” (Sophocles 1572). The quote comes directly from a conversation he was having with the prophet that told him he was

    Read More

  • Oedipus: Fate And Fate: The Values Of Fate

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before Oedipus was born a profit to his dad the Kings that he would be killed by his own son and the son would marry it mother. The king ordered the baby to have stack drove into its feet then thrown in to the sea. The man who was supposed to do it didn’t. In stand he took baby Oedipus to the maintains in left him. Oedipus was fond and given to a different king in Queen to raise. When he was a young man he told the king in queen were not he real parent and went to find the truth from another profit. Oedipus was not told whether the king and queen were his real parent but only that he would kill his dad and marry his mother. He ran away from home to the city Thebes. On the way he kills a man and his group of workers. He then wins a battle of wits against the sphinx. The city of Thebes name him the new king he marry the queen Jocasta and has four kids. Thebes fall into a pelage in to fix it Oedipus go to the seer for help. The seer tells him he killed the old king. From that point he finds out the king was he father and that he had married his mother and had kid with her. Jocasta kills herself, Oedipus guts out his own eyes and leave the city. In the case of Oedipus, he and everyone around him goes to every extreme to make sure the prophecy won’t come true but it does anyways. This just show that no matter how much he tried his free will and decision could not undo

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King

    635 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oedipus believed that he could take on the Sphinx and rid Thebes of the plague. The plague was the god’s example of the fault in human condition. Children and mothers were dying and the world was at war with itself. The plague showed that the mortality of being human is a death sentence. The riddle of the Sphinx defines human limits. The first stage is that of a baby, the second is when you are your strongest, and the third stage is when you are old an dying, and there is no way to avoid this cycle. Oedipus fails to recognize the third stage of the riddle in himself even though it is staring him in the face in the form of Teiresias.

    Read More

  • Morality In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

    1507 Words  | 4 Pages

    Born to King Laius and Queen Jocasta in the city of Thebes, Oedipus is surrounded with controversy after a prophecy shows that Oedipus will be destined to murder his father and marry his mother. Fearing the potential consequences of the prophecy, Oedipus’ parents made the decision to abandon their baby at the top of a mountain to die using one of their servants. The servant’s consciousness, however, causes him to instead deliver the baby to a shepherd, who in turn sends him to King Polybius and Queen Merope of the kingdom Corinth. After raising the child as their own, Oedipus becomes suspicious that these weren’t his biological parents and leaves Corinth upon hearing the prophecy by the oracle Delphi. As he unknowingly travels to his birth city, Thebes, Oedipus murdered a man along with his servants after a dispute between them. Before entering Thebes, Oedipus is confronted by the guardian of the city’s Gates, the Sphinx who presents him with a riddle. If he solves the riddle, he will be able to pass. If he doesn’t, he’ll die. Oedipus’s superior intelligence and cleverness allows him to easily solve the riddle, however unbeknownst to him will be a foreshadowing of his tragic downfall. The citizens of Thebes praise Oedipus and Queen Jocasta offers to marry him since her husband was mysteriously murdered. Upon marry Jocasta and becoming the King of Thebes, a powerful plague decimates the citizens of

    Read More

  • Elvis Presley and King Oedipus

    1288 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Oedipus was the son of Laius and Jocasta king and queen of Thebes” (Sophocles n.p.). He was born to a royal family. The king and queen bore him after staying for a long time without children until they had to consult the gods abou...

    Read More

  • Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles

    444 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Riddle In Oedipus

    527 Words  | 2 Pages

    (Morford, Lenardon, and Sham 420-421). King Polybus and Queen Merope raised the child as their own and named him Oedipus, meaning “swellfoot”, because of the way he was found with the spike through his ankles. (Morford, Lenardon, and Sham 421). When Oedipus became a young man, he found out that he was not the natural born child of the King and Queen so he searched for his destiny. Oedipus discovered the truth from the oracle, whom his real parents were and was advised to avoid his birth land. In agreement, Oedipus traveled to Thebes and on his journey he crossed paths with his birth father, where they fought and Oedipus killed him and filled the prophesy told by the oracle. (Morford, Lenardon, and Sham 421). Oedipus continued his journey to Thebes and came across the city pursued by a flying monster, (the Sphinx, meaning “strangler”) that the goddess Hera had sent upon the city of Thebes. (Morford, Lenardon, and

    Read More

  • Blindness and Sight in Oedipus the King - Lack of Vision

    981 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kind Oedipus started life with a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. In an attempt to avoid this fate, his parents, Laius and Jocasta, sent him into the mountains to die. However, a shepherd saved Oedipus. This shepherd gave Oedipus to Polybus and Merope. When Oedipus learned of his prophecy, he fled his home, thinking these people were his real parents. On his flight, he met Laius. He ended up killing Laius. He continued on, answered a riddle of the evil Sphinx, and ended up king of Thebes. With this kingdom, Oedipus married Jocasta. He had lived out the prophecy without even knowing he had. Thebes fell onto bad times, and a prophet put the blame on a polluter of the lands. Oedipus called on Teiresias, and Teiresias informed him that the polluter was the King. As Oedipus searched further and further, he discovered that he was the polluter and that the prophecy had come true. When Oedipus finally discovered the truth, he was so distressed that he ran pins into his eyes, blinding himself. He had been blinded to the truth for so long.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: Not Guilty of Any Crime

    517 Words  | 2 Pages

    Prior to the birth of Oedipus, a prophecy was spoken over Laius and his wife Jocasta. They were told that their son would one day be his father’s killer and would then marry his mother. In fear, King Laius and Queen Jocasta sent the baby Oedipus off with a slave to be killed. He was never killed, but rather was given to a childless king and queen which lovingly raised him. Oedipus was never factually told about his lineage. Later in his life, Oedipus was confronted by several unknown men while traveling. Upon confrontation, Oedipus killed all but one of the men in self defense. Unknowingly, Oedipus had begun to fulfill the prophecy for one of the men had been his birth father, Laius.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Oedipus the King

    465 Words  | 1 Pages

    Poor Oedipus discovers that he had killed his father and married his mother at the climax of the play when the Shepard is questioned. He states "I stand revealed at last - cursed in my birth, cursed in marriage, cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands!"³ He then finds his mother after she has committed suicide and proceeds to gouge out his own eyes with her brooches.

    Read More

  • Oedipus as a Tragic Hero

    353 Words  | 1 Pages

    This soon-to-be king solved the riddle of the Sphinx, which had been killing the young men of Thebes as they tried to leave. The people of Thebes respected Oedipus, for he had saved the city from the Sphinx, by answering this riddle. For the removal of this monster he was praised by the city of Thebes and married the newly widowed Queen, Jocasta. Jocastas husband had been murdered by a "group of robbers" (who was actually Oedipus).

    Read More

  • Oedipus: A Victim of Fate

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    When Oedipus was born he was taken to an Oracle, this was custom for the rich. The Oracle was to tell his fate. The Oracle said that when Oedipus grows up he will marry his mother and he would also kill his father, "... Why, Loxias declared that I should one day marry my own mother, And with my own hands shed my father's bool. Wherefore Corinth I have kept away far, for long years; and prosperd; none the less it is most sweet to see one's parents' face..."(p36 ln1-6). When his parents herd this they gave Oedipus to a man and he was to get rid of the baby by leaving it in the forest, but an servant of Polybus, the king of Corinth, finds the baby and brings him to the king. The king falls in love with the baby and takes him in as one of his own.

    Read More

  • tragoed Elements of Tragedy in Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex)

    463 Words  | 1 Pages

    The tale of King Oedipus is well known. An enraged Oedipus unknowingly slays his father (Laiusq, King of Thebes) and supplants him as monarch and as husband to his own mother (Queen Jocasta). As each successive "layer of the onion" is unpeeled, Oedipus is brought a step closer to realizing the true nature of his actions. Foretold in prophecy and initiated by his anger, the downfall of Oedipus comes to fruition as all facts gradually come to light.

    Read More

More about The Oedipus Complex in Oedipus the King

Open Document