Oedipus The King Research Paper

Before “Oedipus the King” actually starts, there is some background information that everyone in the audience should know before watching the play. In the introduction before the play, Laius and Jocasta were told a horrible prophecy , that their son would kill his father and marry his mother. To make sure the prophecy does not come true, they give the baby to a shepherd to be taken to the mountain side, to be killed by exposure. The shepherd felt bad and gave the baby to another shepherd who gave him to the king and queen of Corinth, Polybus and Merope. Oedipus is told by a drunk man that Polybus and Merope are not his real parents. He goes to the Oracle to ask the gods but they ignore his question and instead tell him that he will kill his

There are many alternative actions that could have been taken so that the prophecy did not come true. “Laius drove a metal pin through the infant’s ankles and gave it to a shepherd, with instructions to leave it to die of exposure on the nearby mountain, Cithaeron” (Introduction. pg XL). Instead of sending someone else to do their dirty work, they should have killed the baby themselves. They could have even had someone watch the shepherd take the baby to make sure that the baby was properly placed to die. “The shepherd took the child up to the mountain, but pitied it and gave it to a fellow shepherd he met there, who came from Corinth, on the other side of the mountain range” (Introduction. pg XL). If the shepherd would have just taken the orders he was given and leave the baby on the mountain side, the baby would have never lived for the prophecy to come true. Later in the play as Oedipus is telling his story to Jocasta, he says, “The next day I visited /My father and my mother, and questioned them. They stormed, /Calling it all the slanderous rant of a fool;” (Scene 2. Antistrophe 2. 254-256). When Oedipus asks Polybus and Merope if they are his real parents, they should have told him the truth. If he would have known for sure that they were not his real parents, he would not have left so that he could save them. Once again, while Oedipus was telling Jocasta his story he also says, “The god dismissed my question without reply; /He spoke of other things. /Some were clear, /Full of wretchedness, dreadful, unbearable:” (Scene 2. Antistrophe 2. 262-265). The gods know he will run away from his parents if they tell him the truth, so they avoid telling him. He can not control what the gods tell him which makes him not responsible for leaving to save his parents. Each event could have been handled a little differently. Since the alternative actions is not the actions