Loss Of Innocence In Oedipus Rex

In the beginning of the play Oedipus meets Laios on a road. Both were driving chariots and neither would yield the right of way. Laios attempts to kill Oedipus’ horses but Oedipus reacts fast killing Laios attendants and his own father, Laios. Oedipus went to Thebes to help and destroy a monster and bless their town. Because of his heroic act, Thebes recalls him again to help and find the murderer who killed their king Laios and punish the man. Oedipus goes and does everything he can to get evidence and find the man who killed Laios the king: “Is this your prayer? It may be answered. Come, Listen to me, act as the crisis demands… Until now I was a stranger to this tale, As I had been a stranger to the crime. Could I track the murderer without a clue?” (Sophocles 1. 1. 204 - 209). Teiresias, a chorus of Theban, elders tells Oedipus he is the murder who killed his father and also mentions he married his own mother along with having children. Oedipus finds all of that to believe and what Oedipus does is find more people to tell him the truth. Jocaste, wife and mother of Oedipus, tells him through the play to not believe such a thing. In Act three Scene five, Shepherd the man, who took Oedipus to Corinth city’s reveals to him that everything is true. Oedipus makes the decision to gouge his eyes out making himself blind to not see the whole catastrophe. He begs Creon to send him away from Theban

First, Oedipus understands that injustice is put on his kingdom. innocent people who did not harm or have any part in the murder of the King are being punished. “For you, for loyal Thebans, and for all who find my actions right, I pray the favor of justice, and of all the immortal gods"(Sophocles 15). Oedipus knows that this curse is not fair and he is determined to find the murderer. “Apollo, when we sent to him, sent us back word

The next stage on his of the journey to self-awareness is doubt. Oedipus demonstrates the puerile arrogance by refusing to accept the truth even as more and more proof of his inadvertent sins. He uses many common coping strategies to avoid the cruel truth of his fate. For instance, when he invites the distinguished prophet Teiresias to help him cure Thebes, he begins respectfully but quickly turns impatient and insolent when the prophet refuses to answer his questions, threatening to use his power as king to punish this disobedience, though by doing this Oedipus himself displays the same defiance toward the will of the gods being channeled through Teiresias. Eventually, Teiresias angrily reveals: “I say you are the murderer of the king/whose murderer you seek.” (Oed. 362-363) Oedipus, of course, orders him away and quickly returns to his state of denial, albeit somewhat disturbed. To dismiss the idea completely, he uses another coping strategy, blame, scapegoating

“Then I will tell you what I heard at Delphi. In plain words, the god commands us to expel from the Land the Thebes An old defilement we are sheltering. It is a deadly thing, beyond cure;” (Sophocles.98) “By exile or death, blood for blood” (Sophocles,104). Oedipus become’s eager to find the king’s murderer to punish him so that plague is removed but little does he know he is the laios murderer. “then once’s more I must bring what is dark to light (Sophocles 134”). Oedipus is very confident about finding the truth but that truth can be heavy for him. He passed judgment on the murderer without knowing the facts. “ As for the criminal, I pray to God— Whether, it be a lurking thief or one of the number — I pray that man’s life is consumed in evil and wretchedness. (Line 28, scene

Oedipus is the king of Thebes and unknown to him he is married to his mother Jocasta queen of Thebes. He does not realize that many years ago he had killed his real father without knowing it. Oedipus is seen as god like to the people of Thebes because it was him who solved the sphinxes riddles. In the play he is accused by Teiresias of killing the king and Oedipus blames his brother in law and kreon of trying to over throw him. Then his wife Jocasta comes into the scene and tells a story of how the king was killed. It is then that Oedipus learns of his childhood and becomes more suspicious then ever. He then calls a shepherd and a messenger to help answer questions. The people tell him to stop asking about the death because he may not like the answer but Oedipus makes the ultimate sacrifice and continues to

Early on in the story, Oedipus is the proud and confident king of Thebes; he is a man that is not to be underestimated or degraded. This once undisputed fact becomes more debatable the longer the play continues, however. The conflict begins with Oedipus attempting to lift a curse that has been unleashed on the kingdom of Thebes. This curse was caused by the murder of the previous king, Laius, and the only way for it to be lifted is for the murderer to be exiled from Thebes. Oedipus works fervently to unravel the mystery behind who Laius’ killer was. However, each new discovery ends up incriminating Oedipus as the killer instead. Along the way Oedipus discovers that his supposed parents, the king and queen of Corinth, are not his true parents. This revelation pushes him to begin a new search for his biological parents, a search that eventually leads him to one of Lainus’ shepherds. It is this shepherd that reveals to King Oedipus that his mother is Jocasta, his current wife. Consequently, Oedipus falls into a fit of despair in which he stabs his own eyes out and confronts the consequences of his shameful existence. By the end of the play, Oedipus has not only lost his status as the king of Thebes, but has also been exiled from the kingdom and has become an outcast for all of society to hate. The transition Oedipus undergoes

Oedipus the King is a tragedy revolving around a murder, the murder of the previous king Laius. The chorus in the play represents the voice of the society, the elders of the Thebes men. They help provide a broader understanding of the play as it unfolds, by evaluating the characters and the themes as well as the sequences of the tragedy. As part of the play they also portray their religious knowledge as they call upon the Gods and Goddesses for guidance. The commentary by the chorus helps the audience follow the development of the play. At the beginning the chorus supports the ideas of Oedipus and comments on his greatness “It was said he was killed by certain wayfarers” Oedipus the King (294-95) the chorus in this scene supports Oedipus’s thoughts of the murderer. As well as supporting Oedipus they begin to give him different ideas on discovering the murderer, “I know that what

Immediately, the king took initiative to do anything that he could possibly do to bring health back to the people. However, what Oedipus did not know is that the only way was to kill the person who killed the former king of Thebes, Laios. As the play progresses, Oedipus is told his fate early on of his journey. Furthermore, along the play, Oedipus showed strong, studious, and king-like characteristics. Oedipus was a tenacious being; additionally, he displayed unbiased, penitent, and noble characteristics.

The king of Thebes will decide to see this matter through on his own terms, no matter the cost. For Oedipus finding the truth becomes something of an obsession, and it is far more important than what that truth might actually reveal. It seems as if the more facts that are uncovered about the murder of Laios, the more determined Oedipus becomes, perhaps still unconvinced about his own possible implication in the death of Laios (even though he remembers killing a man at a crossroads). He relentlessly marches on, ignoring the pleas from his wife, Jocasta, to abandon the

Oedipus’ obsession to unravel mysteries is a factor in his fall. In fact, an ignorant Oedipus would have been far better off than a knowledgeable Oedipus (Will 44). During his stay in Corinth, a visitor calls him a bastard. His curiosity takes him to an oracle to seek an explanation, where he learns about his fate. On the other hand, Oedipus would not have embarked on this journey for ‘self-discovery’ if he had dismissed the drunkard’s remarks. Oedipus, as king of Thebes, learns from his wife that they had disposed off the son who was to kill his father; therefore, there was no possibility of the prophecy’s fulfillment. Regardless, he becomes even more determined to dig deeper. He states that he will start afresh and, once again, unravel the mystery (159-160). Indeed, Oedipus takes a step closer to his fate with every piece of information he gathers. Thus, his unyielding desire to unravel truths that could have been better left buried, leads him to the tragic revelation about his

Initially, Oedipus remains in a state of ignorance throughout the establishment of the tragedy by virtue of his strong characteristics that include pride, ego, and obliviousness. In the drama, Oedipus speaks about what would happen if the killer was a royal member of Thebes. The play reads, “If by any chance / he proves to be an inmate of our house, / here at my hearth, with my full knowledge, / may the curse i just called down strike me” (284-287). Oedipus placed a cure throughout the distinguished city of Thebes in hopes to lead it back to its once former glory. This shows his ignorance in view of the fact that he is the one who killed the former King Laius, which means Oedipus cursed himself. His ego of trying to be the savior once again put Oedipus in a terrible position for the continuation of his life. Furthermore, Oedipus sent for a prophet to help discover who the mysterious

During his flight, he Oedipus kills a caravan of presumed low-class travelers. Oedipus comes into Thebes a stranger and hero who solved the riddle of the sphinx. Believing that he is blessed with great luck, Oedipus marries the recently widowed Iokaste and becomes King of Thebes. After many years, a plague vexes the city and Kreon, brother of Iokaste, comes to Oedipus with news from the oracle. He states that the plague will be lifted when the murder of Laios is avenged. Oedipus claims that he sees and understands the terrible fate of Thebes and vows to find the murderer. Since the criminal is said to still be in Thebes, Oedipus believes that a man of his intelligence should have no difficulty in finding the perpetrator. When Oedipus is confronted by Teiresias with truth, perhaps it is Oedipus’ own hubris, which blinds him to the unthinkable truth.

Throughout the play Oedipus is driven by many factors to find the killer of King Laius, and while on that mission, he inquires much about his past and himself. One of his main strives is to find out his true identity. The city of Thebes is struck by a plague due to the death of King Laius. The Oracle of Delphi states that in order to rid of the plague, Oedipus has to commit himself to finding the murderer of the dead King Laius. Oedipus shows allegiance by going on a

is a trait viewed as being favorable to a character at first, but it leads to their later downfall. It was often used in ancient Greek tragedies to show that mankind was susceptible to flaw. This was present in Sophocles 's tragedy, Oedipus the King. The protagonist of the tragedy,Oedipus, was not exempt from his own flaws. Oedipus’s traits of excessive pride and desire for knowing the truth were advantageous to him in the beginning, yet were the very things that contributed to his tragic downfall.

At the beginning of the tragedy, Oedipus and Jocasta immerse themselves in ignorance to Oedipus’ upbringing. During this time, Thebes is in tribulation- famine, plague, and hopelessness ravishes the land. Attempting to ail the land of its pain, Oedipus sends for a prophet in hopes he will reveal a cure. Upon arrival, Tiresias claims that Thebes is plagued because the person who killed the former king has not been reprimanded. Oedipus presses Tiresias to reveal who killed Laius. To this, Tiresias tells Oedipus that he is ”the curse, the corruption of the land” (141). Not knowing what that means, Oedipus spirals into rage. But here, Tiresias is telling Oedipus he is the one who is cursing Thebes, he killed Laius. Oedipus furiously denies this, deflecting every other comment Tiresias makes. He does this because he feels the need to cover up any accusations against him, even when they are truthful. This state of denial is natural to him for he