Oedipus the King
Prompt: Who do you think is responsible for the tragedy of Oedipus? (Some
candidates: the gods (Apollo), fate, Oedipus’ hubris, Tiresias, Jocasta and Laius, the
sphinx.)
IEP Grade 12
Kevin 26
Mr. deGroof
In ancient Greek society, fate was the central role in people’s daily lives. People
deeply believed in the power of the gods and goddesses, as well as their prophecies
and oracles. Play writers like Sophocles would not wrote tragic stories that challenge
the power of the gods and their oracles because these writers were afraid and didn’t
want to offend the gods in their own lives. In Oedipus the King, the story that
Aristotle refers as the perfect tragic story, Sophocles built up the suspense of this
tragic story by many different factors that led to the downfall of Oedipus and caused
the tragedy to happen. However, fate is responsible for the tragedy of Oedipus
because the actions of the characters are all motivated by their reaction to avoid the
fate in vain.
King Laius was fated that he would be killed by his son; and Laius’ wife, Jocasta,
was also fated that she would marry their son. Apollo told King Laius and Jocasta
about their fate through his oracle, “Which said that fate would make him meet his
end through a son, a son of his and mine.” (Oedipus the King, p.238) Laius and
Jocasta believed in the gods and were afraid that this prophecy would come true;
therefore, they decided to take actions to prevent what is fated from happening. It is
ironic that although Laius and Jocasta knew what the gods are capable of and believed
the oracles would come true, they still thought that they had the power to change their
fate and prevent the oracles from happening. King Laius and Jocasta gave Oedipus to
a shepherd to get rid of their son. They tried to kill their son throughout other’s hands
because they knew that killing their own line would cause them to be cursed and
hunted down by the Furies. But the shepherd pitied baby Oedipus so he didn’t kill him,
instead, he throw Oedipus away in the hills and pin his ankle at the tree. Here,
Sophocles showed an idea that if you want something to be done, you can only rely
on yourself. At the hills, Oedipus was found by a herdsman from Corinth and the man
brought him back to King of Corinth. King Polypus adopted Oedipus and treated him
as his own son that Oedipus never doubted about his parentage. King Laius and
Jocasta’s action was driven by the theme: fate, and by trying to avoid fate, their
actions were the true cost that makes the fate came true. Because they try to avoid this
tragedy and sent Oedipus away, Oedipus was unable to recognize his true parents, and
made the fate of killing his father and mating his mother even closer to come true.
Besides Oedipus’ parents, Oedipus also learned about his own fate about killing
his father and mating his mother. At Delphi, Apollo’s oracles told Oedipus about his
fate but didn’t tell him who his true parents were. “How mating with my mother and I
must spawn a progency to make men shudder, having been my father’s murder.”
(Oedipus the King, p.240) Because of King Laius and Jocasta’s reaction to fate and
oracles, Oedipus was not able to distinguish the fact that King of Corinth was not his
real father. Oedipus tried to avoid such disgusting fate, so he ran away from Corinth
and decided to never return. This action of running away from fate caused Oedipus to
meet his true father, King Laius, on his way. Because he could not recognize Laius, he
killed him. Although many said that Oedipus killed Laius because of his
impulsiveness and bad temper, in Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus said “the man that I
murdered would have killed me.” (Oedipus at Colonus, p289) This detail further
confirmed that fate was inevitable. When he arrived at the city of Thebes, he solved
the riddle of sphinx and saved the city. Out of appreciation, people of Thebes made
him the king and let him married the queen: Jocasta, together, they had four children.
All the prophecies and what is fated had came true, but both Jocasta and Oedipus
didn’t realize it yet. Because Oedipus tried to avoid his fate, he left the city of Corinth
and started his journey, which led him to kill his father and married his mother.
Oedipus learned another disastrous fate about himself from a blind prophet,
Tiresias. When Oedipus tried to help the city of Thebes from the disastrous situation,
Creon got an oracle from Apollo, which said that in order to save the city, they must
found out the murder of King Laius and made that polluted man left the city. To solve
the crime, Oedipus asked for help from Tiresias. Later, Tiresias was angered by
Oedipus’ accusation of tiresome so he reveals that Oedipus was the murder of King
Laius and added “Blind instead of seeing, beggar instead of rich, He’ll grope his way
in foreign parts, tapping out his way with stick in hand.” (Oedipus the King, p.230)
Tiresias’ comment was his prophecy about the fate of Oedipus. Oedipus was furies
and felt offended so he was eager to find out the truth to prove Tiresias wrong. But the
more information he received, the further he got from proving Tiresias wrong. When
Oedipus find out that he did killed his father and married his mother, he blinded
himself, asked to be exiled from Thebes. And in the story Oedipus in Colonus,
Oedipus was accompanied by Antigone and tried to find their way in foreign and
unknown land. These horrible situations that happened to Oedipus was fated and
warned by Tiresias, but no one can ever avoid his or her fate. The action Oedipus took
to avoid his fate made him realized that he was the pollution, and was blind and
banished.
From the story, we could see that all the characters’ actions to avoid fate from
happening kept the story’s plot moving forward and made their fate came true.
Because Laius and Jocasta threw Oedipus away, Oedipus wasn’t able to recognize his
real parents. Because Oedipus ran away from Corinth, he met Laius and killed him on
the way, and he married Jocasta with four children. And because Oedipus tried to
prove Tiresias’ prophecy wrong, he was blind and banished from Thebes. What is
fated is going to happen. No one could ever escape from his or her fate, and all the
actions to avoid fate will only worsen the situation.
Bibliography
Roche, Paul. Sophocles: The Complete Plays. New York, NY: Signet Classics, 2001.
Print.