Sophocles explores the Greek belief in destiny in his play Oedipus Rex. A horrific prophecy warns Oedipus that he will kill his father and sleep with his mother, so he flees to Thebes. Upon the hero’s arrival he encounters the Sphinx, who presents him with a riddle: What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening? Oedipus solves it and becomes king, unknowingly sealing his own fate. Not only a feature in the plot, the Sphinx's riddle is also a metaphor for the predestined rise and fall of Oedipus' life. Oedipus, an infant, with his ankles bound represents a four-legged being. When he becomes the king of Thebes, he embodies the independent, two-legged man. In the latter part of his life, …show more content…
The Sphinx’s reference to a four legged creature symbolizes not only a person’s childhood, but also a weak, unstable, and highly vulnerable existence. For Oedipus, this phase of his life is especially desperate and dangerous, as he “had not been three days in this world before the king had pierced the baby’s ankles and left him to die on a lonely mountainside” (38). Defying death, he survives and a shepherd brings him to the city of Corinth, but Oedipus remains insecure. After a drunken man tells him that his parents are not his biological parents, Oedipus says, “I contained myself that night, though I felt anger and a sinking heart. The next day I visited my father and mother, and questioned them” (42). These fears are further compounded after he visits the oracle at Delphi, where “the god dismissed [Oedipus’] question without reply; he spoke of other things...as, that I should lie with my own mother, breed children from whom all men would turn their eyes; and that I should be my father’s murderer” (42). Attempting to prevent this prophecy from coming true, he flees Corinth, eventually leading him to Thebes, where he solves the Sphinx’s riddle and becomes king. This marks the transition from Oedipus’ uncertain youth to the peak of his life as a …show more content…
Thus, Sophocles shows that independence can lead to arrogance, bringing tragic consequences with it. Oedipus uses his physical strength to recklessly kill the king of Thebes, whom he thinks is a random traveler. “The old man saw me and brought his double goad down upon my head as I came abreast. Swinging my club in this right hand I knocked him out of his car, and he rolled on the ground. I killed him” (43). He later uses his intellect to solve the Sphinx’s riddle and become king. Referred to as “Great Oedipus, O powerful King of Thebes,” he becomes very arrogant and begins to push away support (4). Quick to turn on even his most trusted advisers, he wrongly accuses Creon, his brother-in-law, of treason. “What savage envy is stored up against these, if Creon, whom I trusted, Creon my friend… desires in secret to destroy me!” (21). He foolishly thinks that he has outsmarted destiny, and no longer needs to worry about the prophecy. Oedipus discovers that his father died of natural causes in Corinth, further cementing his beliefs, only to find out later that his real father is King Laios, the man he killed. After discovering that his wife, Iocaste, is actually his mother, he realizes that the prophecy has unfolded exactly as originally predicted. Oedipus’ physical and intellectual prowess that