Character Is Destiny

One day, Oedipus went to the Oracle of Delphi and found out that he was destined to kill his father and sleep with his mother. Oedipus tried to escape his fate by running away from Corinth, leaving who he thought were his real parents. However, he ended up running right into his real father. He saw a group of people riding a chariot at the crossroads and assumed that they were thieves. Laois happened to be one of them, and Oedipus killed him not knowing that he was his real dad. This is important since Oedipus fulfilled part of the prophecy. Oedipus remembered about his encounter with the chariot near the end of the play and said, “But he more than paid for it and soon was struck by the scepter from this very hand, lying on his back, at once thrown out of the car. I killed them all” (Sophocles, 39). Quite soon, he also won the throne of Thebes by answering the riddle of the Sphinx and unknowingly married Iocaste, his real mother.

Oedipus tries hard to avoid the prophecy. After meeting with the oracle and hearing the prophecy, Oedipus flees from Corinth. He wants to get as far away from Polybus and Merope as possible in order to protect them. Unknowingly, this leads him straight to what the prophecy described, killing the King, and marrying the Queen, his real parents. When Polybus dies of natural causes, Oedipus is remorseful that his adoptive father died, but thrilled because he thinks the prophecy has not come true (Sophocles 930-2). All these facts point to Oedipus’s innocence for the following reasons. Oedipus flees Corinth to protect his adoptive parents from the prophecy, because he truly believes that they are his real parents. He said, “When I heard, I fled from Corinth” (Sophocles 763-6). This proves that Oedipus is innocent because he tries to avoid the prophecy. Also, Oedipus tells the messenger, “I shall never come. I must not see my parents” (Sophocles 974). This shows that even after his adoptive father is dead, he still does not want to see his adoptive mother, to prevent the prophecy from happening. Thus, Oedipus works hard to avoid the

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

Oedipus the King is a tragedy that displays irony throughout the play. In the play, King Laius and his wife Jocasta learn that in the prophecy their newborn son, Oedipus, will kill his father and marry his mother. In order to prevent the prophecy from occurring, they decide to bind and tie his ankles and then abandoned him. When Oedipus grew up, he eventually learned about this prophecy and decided to leave his parents. What he did not realize was that the parents who raised him were not his biological parents. On his voyage to Thebes, Oedipus ended up in a chariot accident

Oedipus did not know who his real parents were. The King of Corinth was his adopted father. The king gave him the name Oedipus because his feet were swollen from his injured Achilles tendons. Oedipus’s parents were so afraid of what the oracle told them about Oedipus’s fate, they felt that their only option was to get rid of him. The irony in his abandonment was the fact that the biological parents never intended to see Oedipus again, though Oedipus’s fate was going to happen regardless of what the parents did to rid of him. Oedipus had an altercation with several men “where the three roads meet”, killing four men including his biological father. “He came to a place where three roads

So, when Queen Jocasta and King Laius had a son, they left him on Mount Cithaeron to die, but a shepherd took and gave him to the king and queen of Corinth. Later in his life, Oedipus got a message from an oracle saying that he would kill his father and marry his mother and believing that the Corinthian king and queen were his parents, he left to Thebes, killed his true father in self-defense along the way, and married his real

Oedipus the King is a tale that starts out with the city of Thebes suffering from a drastic plague and their king, Oedipus wants to find out why. Creon is sent to find the reason why the plague is occurring, and sends Tiresias to tell Oedipus the oracle. The oracle says that the murderer of Laius must be found and punished. This caused Oedipus to proclaim that he would do everything so that he could to find the murderer. Tiresias says that the murderer is Oedipus, but Oedipus is quick to disagree. Oedipus came to the towns of Thebes because of a prophecy that was given to him. He was told that he was to kill his father and even sleep with his own mother. Once the story comes to an end, the

     The heart of the story unravels when Oedipus apparently begins to suffer a reversal of fortunes. At the beginning of the play, Oedipus is referred to by the priest as the “king of the land, [the city of Thebes’] greatest power” (16). Through all of Thebes he is thought of as a hero, a man who saved the city from the Sphinx and in his bravery has promised to find the killer of King Laius in order to save the city from doom and death. However, at the climax of the story Oedipus learns that he has been “cursed in [his] birth, cursed in marriage / and cursed in

When he learns from the oracle Delphi that he will kill his father, Oedipus runs away from Corinth to avoid the prophecy’s fulfillment. Unknown to him, he embarks on a journey that brings him closer to fulfilling the prophecy that he will defile his mother’s bed and murder the father who engendered him (951-954). It is while he is on the run from his foster father that he comes face to face with his fate; he meets and kills King Laius, his own father, at the three crossroads.

A plague has stricken Thebes. The citizens gather outside the palace of their king, Oedipus, asking him to take action. Oedipus replies that he already sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to the oracle at Delphi to learn how to help the city. Creon returns with a message from the oracle: the plague will end when the murderer of Laius, former king of Thebes, is caught and expelled; the murderer is within the city. Oedipus questions Creon about the murder of Laius, who was killed by thieves on his way to consult an oracle. Only one of his fellow travelers escaped alive. Oedipus promises to solve the mystery of Laius’s death, vowing to curse and drive out the murderer.

In Oedipus The King by Sophocles, Oedipus, the great king of Thebes, suffers a reversal of fortune when he attempts to change his fate. Oedipus is prophesied to kill his father and to marry his mother so he leaves Corinth to come to Thebes so this prophecy does not come true. As Thebes is being countered by a plague, Oedipus is trying everything he can to help the citizens. Throughout the play, Oedipus seeks knowledge about the plague later leading to his downfall. Oedipus is seen as a hero to his city due to his contributions, but he soon has a tragic ending when he seeks for knowledge.

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.

encounter, Oedipus travels to the city of Thebes, where he solves the great riddle of Sphinx

Oedipus’s life and destiny was said to be set by the god’s, but together with his parent’s lies and his own ignorance, he brought upon his downfall foretold so long ago. It was only when he was born that a prophecy of Oedipus, who was to kill his father and marry his mother. Terrified and without much thought of the consequences, Iokaste and Laius abandoned the child to die. Oedipus did not die. Instead he became a strong and well respected prince, who believed his real parents were king and queen of Corinth. Oedipus’s adoptive parents kept him in the dark about his true identity. For this reason, when ignorant Oedipus hears of his prophecy, he runs away terrified. Ironically, on his journey away from home, he encounters his real father, Laius King of Thebes, which he kills due to an argument. Moreover, he goes on to become King of Thebes and husband of Iokaste, his biological mother. So, without realizing, the fate that Oedipus wanted to impede so badly occurs right before his eyes, showing that fate “lies within Apollo’s competence/As it is his concern” (Oed.