'Guilty In The Play Oedipus Rex'

Oedipus Rex Essay

In the play Oedipus Rex, he married his mother and killed his father without knowledge. He was fated to do the things, but he used fate as an excuse for his deeds. He was formally guilty for the act of marriage with his mother and materially guilty for murder of his father. It was the knowledge of his fate that made him do the things he did. He lived in fear of the things he would do. His parents did not want his fate to come true so they sent him away, and tried to have him killed. If they had not sent him away and ignored the fate, it might not have come true. He was guilty of killing his father, but not of incest, and it was the knowledge of his fate that assisted in it coming true.

However, he was guilty of murder. He killed his father, although he did not know it was his father, but he was still guilty. If he punched some one, and he did not want to kill him, and the person dies, he is still guilty of murder. He was materially guilty for killing his father. He killed his father, not knowing it was his father, but he still did it, so he was therefore guilty of murder, not patricide. "I pollute the bed of him I killed by the hands that killed him. Was I not born guilty? Am I not utterly unclean” (Oedipus Rex 819-822). He believed he was

He married his mother with no knowledge that it was his mother so he cannot be called materially guilty for that. Although he did not know it was his father, he was still formally guilty. He did do the action, and it was bad, but not depraved. What he did that was depraved, was murder. He murdered his father, although he did not know it was his father. Oedipus was just an unlucky man with a horrible fate. He had to be banished, because he made a law that who ever di this would be banished, so he banished himself without knowing. He was only truly guilty of murder, not of incest or