12TH GRADE LITERATURE
Oedipus the King
Prompt:Do you think Oedipus is innocent? If he is, why doesn’t he get angry and
curse the gods? Does he blame the gods? If he is guilty, what are some of his flaws?
Kharishma Chang
IEP #6
In this paper, I have used several arguments to defense for Oedipus and point out why I think he shouldn't be fully responsible for the tragedy.
Some main ideas are listed: How his environment shaped him as an royalty, he has been living under a huge lie for his entire life and how this
tragedy is simply an ignorance issue.
In Oedipus the King, we see many controversies about whether Oedipus is
innocent or guilty. Though they appear briefly or not all in Oedipus the king, from the
dialog of different characters in the play we can tell how each of them sees his fate
and his actions from diverse aspects. From a third person perspective, Oedipus is
undeniably innocent as he devoted all his effort to avoid the oracle. Though he is
angry and blames the gods for making fun of his life, but he never curses them
because he believes it is his own ignorant which leads to the tragedy.
It wasn’t Oedipus’s design to kill his father; he was only acting the way he was
taught. From the first day of his memory, Oedipus has lived as a prince of Corinth. It
wasn’t his wish to be an impatient man who has those traits so called hubris but it was
how he was taught to be. Members of royalty are always accepted and respected and
shall be assaulted by no one even they are not always perfect. “His own
overwhelming self-sufficiency propelled by his fatal flaw allowed him to make the
second…” (P.221) Indeed, Oedipus easily becomes hot-tempered, but isn’t the
beloved king of Thebes, Laius, even more conceited that didn’t even care if someone
else was crushing into him. Both of them inherited the hubris and the result of their
decisions should not be blamed on Oedipus individually. Moreover, he didn’t know it
was the King of Thebes. On page 214, we can tell that Oedipus thought he was no one
special but an old man. “However, he brawls up with an old man in a carriage over
right-of-way.” Laius was travelling with only few people and it is reasonable that
Oedipus doesn’t expect him to be his biological father, especially when he didn’t even
know that he was adopted. Therefore, Oedipus is innocent for killing the man who
tried to squeeze him out of the path.
Oedipus’s intentions were positive, he tried to avoid the oracle but he has lived a
lie for his entire life. “He did not see, he had no knowing” (P.261) It wasn’t his fault
to not know the truth when all what he was told isn’t true. The king and queen of
Corinth, Oedipus’s foster parents, claimed to be his won, and no one told him
differently. “You were terrified for nothing, because Polybus and you were worlds
apart” (P.247) Oedipus didn’t know the truth of his birth but until the messenger tells
him that Polybus is nearly a stranger to him. If someone has ever been honest with
him about himself, he wouldn’t need to flee away to Thebes. At this point, some
people blame Oedipus for his ignorance, especially when Thesias and the prophet in
Olympus had told him about his oracle. An author Wheelwright writes “The fact is
that Oedipus performed slaying his father and bedding his mother without suspecting
true relationship.” His paranoia toward Tiresias are understandable because all what
Tiresias accused by then was nonsense to him. It is unfair to announce guilt on
Oedipus for his hubris and his crime as all the people who hid the truth could have
stop him with a little more patience.
Oedipus is a good man according Aristotle’s ideal of good or bad, but his fate
arranged by the gods is a cruel gift that he can’t escape from. Oedipus was announced
to be cursed when he was only three days old, he had no say in anything which is by
no mean he is faultless. The Chorus called him a sinful man and requested him not to
just blind but kill himself, but they were as blind as Oedipus before they connect the
truth. Oedipus has a good heart but it also is his compassion to save others that leads
him to his fate. As soon as he hears the prophecy, Oedipus leaves Corinth and his
“parents” as far as possible; he wasn’t out to murder anyone, especially not his real
father. In the critical analysis of P.H. Vellacott, The Guilt of Oedipus, he states his
opinion that Oedipus’s haste of common sense is most evident. It is especially obvious
when he goes against the oracle’s warning. But in another play written also by
Sophocles, Oedipus in Colonus, Oedipus explains himself towards the elders. “If at
this moment someone should step up to murder you, would you, godly creature that
you are, stop and say, “Excuse me, sir, are you my father?” Or would you deal with
him there and then?” (P.306)It is unlikely that anyone will ask such question when
facing a fight, probably not even P.H. Vellacott. In “Sophocles and the guilt of
Oedipus’, Alan H. Sommerstein defended Oedipus’ with an assumption about the
Athenian law. ”Since Athenian judges were unconditionally sworn to vote according
to the law, there must have been a law providing that a person attempting a
life-threatening attack on another could be killed with impunity.” It means that the
matter at issue here is only whether Oedipus is morally guilty of parricide. If not,
there must be a law that provides right for a person that needs to defense himself. In
other word, there is room for people to consider whether Oedipus is even legally
guilty.
“I’m god abandoned” (P.258) When Oedipus realized that the given oracle has
came true, he blamed the gods for abandoning him but still curse himself for the
ignorance. In the introduction, the author writes that it was the Gods who allowed him
to make the first mistake, but it was Oedipus himself who made the rest. Oedipus is
aware of that; he knows that it was his fault to be so careless and ignorant, which is
also why he was extremely hysterical but didn’t dare to blame all the responsibility to
the Gods. “Friends, it was Apollo, spirit of Apollo. He made this evil fructify.” On
page 257, this is his complaint and accusation to Apollo for putting this fate in his life.
But right after that, on page 259, he claimed to be fully responsible for his fate. “My
load is mine.” He didn’t choose to convince any of the authority nor the Chorus to
pity him. Moreover he didn’t blame but even showed his sympathy to those who once
kept him alive due to their kindness. “Pity you, Cithaeron, that you gave me harbor,
took me in and did not kill me straight; that you did not hush my birth from man. Pity
you, Polybus and Corinth, age-old home I called my father’s.” In this sentence, I saw
a good man who doesn’t want any others to suffer because of him. “Kill the impious
one, the parricide, kill me” (P.260) Although Oedipus couldn’t be more innocent, he
sees himself a deepest damned and god-detested man (P.257); and rather die than to
pollute his real home any further.
Oedipus shouldn’t be the only person to be blamed, because everyone in the play
once took part of the ignorant situation. From the beginning, Lauis and Jocasta had
the alternate to not abandon the baby. They could have ordered someone to kill him or
just wait and see what happens in the future. But they left him to fate, which
afterwards resulted back to their own tragedy. The shepherd, who felt pity for the kid,
he could have warn his friend instead of just ignoring the consequences. “I thought
he’d take him home and far away.” (P.253) Oedipus was handed to the king of Cornith
right after the naïve shepherd. Polybus is one of the guiltiest people besides Oedipus’s
real parents. He lied to Oedipus about his birth and his real identity. If the gods shall
not be blamed for Oedipus’s first mistake, Polybus is definitely responsible for his
fear and fleeing. He ignored the importance of being honest to who he loves. It is
totally unfair for Oedipus to go through all the suffering simply because his knowing
of himself is false. If one or more should be responsible for his suffering and his
blindness towards his fate, it will be these people around him who ignored what they
can change.
“Was Oedipus a good man who happened to suffer an unfortunate fate, or was
his fate only just to punish his hubris?” In Oedipus the King, this is a question that
most readers ask themselves and also a controversial topic that scholars debate on
endlessly. According to all the arguments above, Oedipus is innocent. He blamed
himself for the blindness even though he had a clear sight he did not see. He did all
his actions in a good will but did not think thoughtfully. It isn’t fair to blame his fate
on him because no matter how much he tries to escape from it, the coincidence of
everyone’s ignorance opened a path for him to bump in to it again. However, Oedipus
knows he has to take his part of responsibility of the tragedy. That’s why he only
blamed the gods for neglecting him at the first place but he is still willing to bear his
penalty from the gods and his people in Thebes.
Bibliography
1. Oedipus the King
Sophocles, Paul Roche, and Matthew S. Santirocco. "Oedipus the King." The
Complete Plays. New York: Signet Classics, 2010. N. pag. Print.
2. Oedipus in Colonus
Sophocles, Paul Roche, and Matthew S. Santirocco. "Oedipus in Colonus." The
Complete Plays. New York: Signet Classics, 2010. N. pag. Print.
3. The Guilt of Oedipus:
Vellacott, P. H. "The Guilt of Oedipus." Greece & Rome Greece and Rome 11.02
(1964): 137-48.
<http://ccurley.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/87703912/The%20Guilt%20of%20Oedipus.
pdf>
4. Oedipus the King | Criticism.
Wheelwright, Philip Ellis. "Oedipus the King | Criticism." Oedipus the King |
Criticism (1954): n. pag. BookRags. Web.
<http://www.bookrags.com/criticism/oedipus-tyrannus-crit/3/#gsc.tab=0>.
5. Guilt of Oedipus
Berkowitz Luci, and Brunner Theodore F. Sophocles. "Criticism: The Problem of
Guilt: Guilt of Oedipus." Oedipus Tyrannus; a New Translation. Passages from
Ancient Authors. Religion and Psychology: Some Studies. Criticism. New York:
Norton, 1970. N.
6. Sophocles and the Guilt of Oedipus’
Alan, Sommerstein H. "Sophocles and the Guilt of Oedipus'" N.p., 30 Nov. 2010. Web.
<http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CFCG/article/viewFile/36698/35535>.
7.