Oedipus The King

In the play Oedipus The King by Sophacles the main character, Oedipus, is a stubborn king and struggles to learn about his past and that nothing good comes out of it. As a baby, it is prophesied that he will kill his father and sleep with his mother. For this reason, Oedipus left his home when he was older and traveled over the mountains to escape the prophecy. The play starts in a town called Thebes, where a plague is threatening to destroy the city, crops, people, and cattle. Oedipus, their new king, is asked if he can help save the city since he has done it before. Then, he sends his brother-in-law (Creon) to the oracle so he can learn how to save the city. Later, Creon announces that the oracle instructs them to find the murderer of Laius,

Even though Tiresias told him that he was the killer, Oedipus was determined to find out the truth. Since the beginning, Oedipus could have accepted what the blind prophet said, but he had many questions and was looking for answers. As the play begins, Oedipus is presented as a respectable character for helping his people. He is asked for help by the citizens in his community and immediately sends someone to get information. At the beginning, Oedipus is view as a hero by the community because he saved the city before from a terrible monster. Later, they learn that they need to find the murderer that killed their previous king. When Oedipus says, “Pitiable children, oh I know, I know the yearnings that have brought you. Yes, I know that you are sick. And yet, though you are sick, there is not one of you so sick as I,” he explains that each of them is sick individually, but he’s sick for all (page 1064). This shows that he is worried as a leader and cares for his people. For this reason, he sent his brother-in-law Creon to learn what to do. Oedipus was searching for answers, but he did not know that he was about to learn something that was going to change his life for ever. Additionally, Oedipus gets frustrated when he learns that he must find who killed the previous king. His mind gets full of questions and none of them have an answer. Aggravated, he asks a blind prophet called

It was hard for him to accept who he was since the citizens viewed him as a hero. Since the beginning when he saved them from the monster all the citizens in the city were proud of him. Then, they learned that he was the one that killed their previous king and did not knew how to act. Even though Oedipus had great evidence of who he was, he tried to cover the truth by saying the prophecies were wrong. He heard the facts many times, but refused to recognize who he was. Then, Oedipus pieces things together and realizes that Jocasta is his mother and the prophecies are true. Then, Jocasta discovers that Oedipus was the child she wanted dead. One of the messengers said, “He saw, was stricken, and with a wild roar ripped down the dangling noose. When she, poor woman, lay on the ground, there came a fearful sight: he snatched the pins of worked gold from her dress, with which her clothes were fastened: these he raised and struck into the ball-joints of his eyes,” (page 1095). Jocasta is disgusted with herself for sleeping with her son and kills herself. Later, Oedipus finds out that he has lost his wife and mother. For this reason, he rushed to the room where she was and tore the brooches from her dress and gouged his eyes out. The messenger also said,” He shouted that they would not longer see the evils he had suffered or had done, see in the dark those he should not have seen, and