Kreon Oedipus Intentions Quotes

Oedipus the King by Sophocles is a story that depicts a man who tries his hardest to be good. He was abandoned by his parents at a very young age. Eventually, he found his way back to his mother but killed his father along the way. He marries his mother and saves the city of Thebes, but all without realizing the atrocities he committed during the process. However, by fate and the will of the gods, he faces the horrors he committed while trying to behave virtuously. Oedipus can be seen as both a good and a bad character. He is viewed as good because he has pure intentions, but he still kills people and does other dreadful things. Good intentions don't always lead to good results, it depends on the action taken toward those intentions.

Oedipus

Oedipus banishes Kreon for raising allegations that turn out to be true. Kreon was just trying to reveal the truth. Kreon tries to defend himself by saying ¨But these men know I am the man I seem to be, a just man, not devious, not a traitor.¨ (Kreon: page 54 lines 896-899). This line demonstrates Oedipus doing bad things regardless of his good intentions. He banishes Kreon, a good man, because he thinks he is doing the right thing for the good of the city. The accusations are not proven yet so Oedipus does not yet know this is a mistake. Oedipus clearly lays out the sins of his life after stabbing himself in the eyes. He screams ¨Oedipus who lay in that loathsome bed, made love there in that bed, his father’s and mother’s bed, the bed where he was born.¨(Oedipus: Page 86 line 1770) in anguish, with blood streaming from his eyes. This displays Oedipus doing bad things with good intentions because he slept with his mother without knowing it was incest. He was just trying to further the royal bloodline but then he accidentally slept with his

Near the end of the story, when Kreon agrees to watch over Oedipus's children, Oedipus thanks him by saying ¨ May the gods watch over the path of your life, Kreon, prove kinder to you than they were to me¨. This proves the theme that good intentions do not always lead to good results because the gods did not watch over Kreons. Even though Kreon does not die in the next book (Antigone), his wife, niece, and son do. They all commit suicide as a result of Kreon's actions. The irony is that even though Kreon intended well and tried to be good his life still ended up pretty bad. When Oedipus stabbed his eyes out and was in pain and anguish over what he had done in the past and recently, he said ¨I am nothing but my own cries breaking again and again. The agony of those gold pins and the memory of what I did. Stab me. Again. Again. For what I did was horrible.¨ (Oedipus: Page 84 line 1711-1718). This quote plays into the theme because Oedipus never meant to kill his father or sleep with his mother, but he did. For this, he stabs himself and then screams about the atrocious nature of his crimes. In conclusion, Oedipus had a very rough life. He tried to be good and everything he did he thought was for the city of Thebes. However, he did some horrible things in the process of trying to be a good leader. The question is, does his ignorance and meaning well