Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
Oedipus the king character
Oedipus as a greek tragic hero
Who is responsible for the downfall of Oedipus
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Oedipus the king character
Oedipus as a greek tragic hero
Who is responsible for the downfall of Oedipus
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Oedipus the king character
Once the prophet Teiresias began helping Creon, Oedipus accused him of being untruthful. The last prophecy Teiresias gives is that “He will be blind, although he now can see.550 He will be a poor, although he now is rich. He will set off for a foreign country,groping the ground before him with a stick”(Sophocles, Oedipus). Unbenoiscent to Oedipus, this prophecy was towards him, thus it was inevitable. After finding out that Oedipus was her son, Jocasta, Oedipus's wife hangs herself.
In the playwright “Oedipus the King”, by Sophocles, the protagonist Oedipus has learned that his prophecy is destined for him to marry his mother Jocasta
Within Oedipus Rex, Oedipus discovers there is a prophecy that he was cursed with. He was predicted to murder his father and then marry his mother. The man that he murdered on the road was King Laius, the previous King of Thebes, as well as his father. Oedipus wed the ex-wife of the deceased King Laius, which then, in turn, means he wed his mother. Committing incest, yet another sin, was furthermore loss of innocence to Oedipus, but he was not the only character in Oedipus Rex who suffered the loss of innocence.
One has to assume that there had to be some moments where Oedipus and Jocasta had some awkward moments. Back tracking to his birth, why was Oedipus destined to kill his parents? Did Oedipus’s parents kill someone? Which in return led them to have a baby who would eventually lead them to their demise.
In fact, we learn that he has had his excessive pride even as a young man and that it is his pride that leads him to unknowingly kill his own father. We learn that when he was younger he visited the oracle at Delphi and had it prophesied that he would one day kill his own father and sleep with his own mother, "Warned Laius that he would die at the hands of his son.."(Hamilton 268). In his state of anger he headed on the road again far away from his own city. A man and traveling companions were also on the road heading towards Delphi, and when they saw Oedipus, they ran him off the road. Due to his pride and anger, he struck out at the travelers, killing them
But he still carelessly killed a stranger that could have easily been his father. Oedipus made the choice to kill Laïos, who to him was only a stranger, that day. It wasn’t because of his fate or the prophecy, as many have argued. With the little bit of control he had over his life he chose to commit this crime. It is known that Oedipus had suspicions about whether Polybos was his true father from this quote.
Many know Oedipus as a tragic hero: accidentally fulfilling a cursed prophecy, committing patricide, and marrying his mother consequently causing him to gouge his own eyes out. However few are aware of the whole story, let alone what secrets lie beyond the royal family of Thebes. Queen Jocasta bore a smile wider than the Mesopotamian Valley when she discovered she had been blessed with a child after bearing no fertility until this day. Juxtaposing her pure and utter delight, King Laius remained wary of this “blessing” with sorrow still fresh on his mind after far too many parentless years. Regretting his weariness yet not totally forgetting it, he visited the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi.
So, Oedipus consulted the oracle of Apollo, who told him he would sire children by his own mother and that he would kill his own father. So he left because he did not wish for it to happen. After he left Corinth, at a meeting place of three roads, Oedipus was offended by a man in a chariot. He killed the man and the others. From there he went on to Thebes, where he became the new king by answering the riddle of the Sphinx and won the hand of
While reaching toward the climax of the play, Oedipus continues to investigate Laius’s murder which leads to some awful secrets to be discovered. Jocasta attempts to calm Oedipus down after the ordeal with Creon, stating she does not believe that prophets are always correct due to a previous prophecy, claiming a child of her and Laius would kill his father and marry his mother, did not become true. This uneases Oedipus, and he begins to figure out the circumstances of Laius’s death sounded similar to a killing that Oedipus committed once he left Corinth, the reason being that he believed that he would marry his mother and kill his dad. As Oedipus asks for the shepherd who witnessed the attacks to come to Thebes, a Corinthian messenger arrives
The city of Thebes is under a terrible plague caused by the gods and Oedipus sends Creon to discover the reason for this. When Creon comes back he informs the city that the murderer of Laius needs to be either killed or exiled for the pestilence to be gone. Oedipus dedicates himself to finding the killer of the former king, Laius; he questions Tiresias, a blind prophet, about the murder. Tiresias informs Oedipus that he is the murderer and Jocasta try to comfort her husband by telling him the story of how her son was in a prophesied to kill her and Laius. But they killed the child so the prophecy didn’t come true…
First, he was blind to the truth about his own life. Oedipus had no idea that his real parents were Laius and Jocasta, he was so blind that he got mad at anyone that would even suggest an idea such as that. As the story went on though, Oedipus could no longer run from the truth; he was forced to open his eyes to the reality and truth of his life. Oedipus killed his father and married his mother; he is the brother to his own kids and the son of his own mother. Oedipus was the one that was causing all of the downfall and bad times in Thebes.
In the play Oedipus Rex, Oedipus the King was foreseen by the prophecy and proven to marry his biological mother without his knowledge that is was her mother. The relationship of the two characters, Jocasta and Oedipus, as a couple was considered as an incest because they are closely related or a family member. Their acts include sexual activity as proven that they bear four children. Another prophecy of the life of Oedipus in the play includes he’s prophecy that he will kill his biological father and also his attempted suicide after he knowing about his prophecies. Killing thy self is an act that violates the ten commandments of God which make it immoral.
But Oedipus also claims that it was his own decision to kill that random old man on the road. Later on he answers the riddle of the Sphinx, which makes him the king of Thebes as a result. When he becomes the king he marries the queen, Jocasta. Now even before he knows that she’s his mother he falls in love with her. He decided to marry her.
Once Oedipus found out about the killing of his father and marrying of his mother, everything goes downhill. Jocasta hangs herself after finding out about her son also being her husband and her son killing her past husband. Oedipus finds her and gouges his eyes out. These events led up to Creon taking over as king and exiling Oedipus soon after his request to be exiled. The few interactions led up to the expulsion of the main character, Oedipus.
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.