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The Tragic Guilt In Sophocles Oedipus The King

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In Sophocles’ Oedipus

Oedipus was heavily admired by his fellow Athenians because of his intelligence. However, Oedipus’ brilliance is eventually revealed to be his tragic strength as written by Sophocles. The audience or reader of this play is aware of the potentially disastrous events that may play out if Oedipus’ is able to solve the mystery of Laios’ murder. The declaration of the incredible intelligence Oedipus possesses by himself and those around him adds to the dramatic theme of the story. It creates a sense of suspense and draws the audience into the story out of natural curiosity for the catastrophic events that are going to unfold as Oedipus puts pieces of the puzzle together. Oedipus’ tragic strength shows through in the beginning of the story as he is praised for solving the Sphinx’s riddle, when he presses on to find the truth, and in his eventual discovery and downfall. The opening scene introduces the …show more content…

Oedipus commits himself to finding the truth that the audience is already aware of, which creates dramatic tension as each new testimony comes forward to reveal that Oedipus is indeed Laios’s killer. Before Oedipus accepts the truth, Jokasta becomes aware of who Oedipus really is and she attempts to keep him from solving the mystery in order to protect him from the pain. Jokasta gives a convicting line when she tells Oedipus “Oh you poor doomed child! That is the only name I can call you now. None other, forever” (694). Meanwhile, the audience is provoked by this scene because it seems as though the potential disaster has arrived. However, in dramatic effect the story continues as Oedipus refuses the truth until he is certain what has occurred. As a reader, it is especially baffling to not see Oedipus figure out that Tiresias was telling the truth considering Oedipus’ renowned

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Followed by the stage direction, the Messenger enters from the palace to report: “it soon will bring to light– terrible things, and none done blindly now, all done with a will.” Sophocles uses the metaphor of bringing the uncovered truth “to light” to reveal the result of Oedipus’ persistent efforts to prove the prophecy wrong, which emphasises the power of fate over the action he takes. By focusing on the inevitability of fate, Sophocles elicits sympathy and pity from the audience by emphasising Oedipus’ lack of autonomy over his own life; that his fate had been predetermined by not only Tiresias, the oracle, but also the paramount choices of superior Greek gods right from the very

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Oedipus slowly comes to the realization that he killed Laios. However, it is not until later in the story when he figures out that Laios is his father. Oedipus says “Oh never to have come here with my fathers blood upon me!” (Sophocles 73) This is when Oedipus realizes that the prophecies are true.

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Tiresias is aware that Oedipus murdered his father before Oedipus even knew himself “I know of him by hearsay. I have not seen him” (Sophocles line 105!). The truth is later on exposed to Oedipus by Tiresias. Throughout their conversation, tons of dramatic

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Apart from his royal birth to Laius and Jocasta Oedipus also had the privilege of being raised by Polypus and Merope; both high class individual’s in the kingdom of Corinth. The noble stature of his birth is very important as it gives us our first indication that Oedipus is indeed a tragic hero, “The tragic hero is a man of noble stature” (Britt). Even though this is unannounced to Oedipus, it still qualifies him as the noble hero, and in fact is a critical building point in the plot of this play. The evolution of Oedipus’ flaw eventually manifests in his self-destruction upon learning he had murdered his father and slept with his mother. Had Oedipus been born of any other persons, and not been a noble, the chain of events would have had a much different result.

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The Queen, Jacosta, Oedipus’ wife tells him not to believe in the prophet, because they’ve been wrong before, she then tells Oedipus about how she and King Laius had a son who was prophesied to kill Laius and sleep with her but since the child was supposedly dead the prophecy couldn’t be true. Oedipus becomes a bit weary because as a child an old man told him he was adopted and that one day he’d kill his real father and sleep with his mother, Oedipus did also kill a man at a crossroads which sounded like the way Laius died. Oedipus continued questioning the messenger and found out that he was the man everyone spoke of and Jacosta then comes to the realization that Oedipus is her son and kills herself.

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