Oedipus Rex Crimes

Oedipus is innocent, not guilty! The play “Oedipus the King,” by Sophocles, was written around 429 B.C. and is a drama about the life of Oedipus. Oedipus was dealt a prophecy that said that he would marry his mother and kill his father. Oedipus is innocent of these crimes because he does not know the truth about his real parents, and because he tries hard to avoid the prophecy.

The pursuit of justice is an endeavor that many find to be challenging and a quest itself, as one will come across various trials and complications that may stop them in their pursuit or may mislead them. As humans, we find moral correctness and righteousness a very appealing state to be in, as justice will act as a platform to satisfy the desire for this correctness. In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, we meet our miserable anti-hero, Oedipus, in his pursuit for truth and righting the wrong of the plague that is affecting his people of Thebes. As he makes efforts to solve this problem, he comes to find out that he is the source of the issue, thus exposing the tragic flaw of Oedipus and effectively making this play a very effective Greek tragedy. This pursuit of righteousness ends up being the downfall of Oedipus. In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex, Oedipus pursues justice through his realization of his past, his interactions with various characters in the play, and comes to understand more of justice in his situation through his reactions to adversity in this play, in order to portray a questionably successful pursuit of justice.

Sometimes humans are incapable of making the right judgment or judge before we have our fact’s. This kind of judgment can do the damage we cannot reverse. In the play, Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles, is one of the prime examples of judging them without knowing facts. Oedipus Rex is a tragedy. A tragedy is a play that portrays a conflict between human beings and some superior, overwhelming force. It ends sorrowfully and disastrously, and the outcome seems inevitable. Oedipus the king, seem to be very quick to react and rage. Thebes is suffering a plague which leaves its fields and women barren. The king of Thebes has sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to the house of Apollo to find how to end this plague. Creon returns, bearing good news: once the killer of the previous king, Laius, is found, Thebes will be cured of the plague. After hearing that Oedipus swears he will find the murderer and banish him. At the beginning of the play, Kreon inform’s Oedipus that they need to kill the man who had killed the king Laios in order to get rid of the deadly disease. Laios death will open so many facts that Oedipus isn’t expecting.

In the beginning of the story, Oedipus is very taken back by the situation. He will not accept the truth of his fate and accuses Tiresias of lying to him so Oedipus’s bother- in- law, Creon, could take the throne. Oedipus is extremely dumbfounded by this news because he had no knowledge of killing his father or marrying his mother, but what he learns later is that who he thought were his parents were not his real parents. When he finally realizes that he did in fact marry his own mother and kill his father, he accepts it and punishes himself in order to uphold his promise to his people. By this point there is no way Oedipus can escape his fate. Tiresias says to Oedipus, “No man in the world can make the gods do more than the gods will” (811). Since he did kill his father, the previous king, Oedipus has to be shunned by all of Thebes. Because there is no way of changing his fate, he accepts his responsibilities by giving himself the punishment he assigned to the murderer of Laius.

In the book Oedipus the King by Sophocles, there are many controversies on whether Oedipus is guilty of his actions or innocent. Oedipus is a guilty man and his action proved so in the play. Oedipus should be held liable for his crimes of patricide (killing his father) and marrying and having a sexual relationship his mother. Oedipus knew nothing about the past of Thebes however, what was done cannot be taken back. His actions were wrong because incest is unethical, and murdering someone is a crime. He guilty because guilt lies in the act of doing, not in intention. In addition to the prophecy, Oedipus is also guilty of hubris because he displayed excessive pride. The choice was his, and this accounts for some of his guilt. Oedipus is

In the play, “Oedipus Rex”, many ironies took place, as well as fate playing a huge part in the story. “Oedipus Rex” is a story about a man that tries to overcome adversity but cannot escape his prophecy. His parents took him to a hillside as an infant, sliced his Achilles tendons and left him there. A shepherd soon came to his rescue. “King and Queen of Thebes, gave their infant to a shepherd in with orders that he be left on the side of the mountainside to die” (Johnson 1205). As he grew older and much wiser, he went to see the Oracle of Delphi. The Oracle informed him that his destiny was to kill his father and marry his mother. The main ironies in the play are the killing of Oedipus’s biological father, the odd relationship with his mother, and the inability of Oedipus to avoid his fate.

Oedipus is a man of unflagging determination and perseverance, but one who must learn through the working out of a terrible prophecy that there are forces beyond any man’s conceptualization or control. Oedipus’ actions were determined before his birth, yet Oedipus’ actions are entirely determined by the Gods who control him completely. In the beginning of this tragedy, Oedipus took many actions leading to his own downfall. He tried to escape Corinth when he learned of the prophecies that were supposed to take place in his life. Instead, he

Oedipus the King was written by Sophocles and was is titled Oedipus Rex in Latin. It is one of the most well-known Greek tragedies. As is the case with Greek tragedies—or roughly most tragedies that make their way to stage—fate plays a key role in the events in Oedipus Rex. Oedipus discovers there is a plague on his city. The only way to lift the plague is by slaying the former king’s killer. As the play’s acts unfold one discovers about the prophecy concerning Oedipus. The prophecy states that Oedipus is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. But was this just by chance or his predetermined fate.

Yes, Oedipus did commit a crime, which consisted of not only killing the king, but the king was his father. Oedipus did receive the oracle of how he was going to kill his father, and sleep with his mother, but at the time, he thought that the parents he was living with, turned out to be not his biological parents. Unknowingly Oedipus travels the other direction to avoid what the oracle said, and on his journey he had met his biological parents. Later down the line, Iocaste understands the message that Oedipus is her son. She knows that she would not want to deal with the pain.

murder. He tells Creon "you will find me a firm ally, and together we shall exact vengeance for our land and for the god?And with the help of God, we shall find success ? or ruin" (5) He knew what his duty was and that was what he wanted to follow. He needed to save thousands of people and Oedipus would go to any means to save them. This is an innocent person and a trustworthy King. "My words are uttered as a stranger to the act, a stranger to its tale"(7). He tells us that he cannot solve the "riddle the very skill that proved him great" (11). He cannot do it alone. Why is this? If he is so guilty of this crime and he is the "murderer that he seeks" then why does he go on with the search? (10). The reason is that he does not know that he has caused the grief for his people. He does not know that he is the murderer. "Ask what you wish. I am not the murderer.", is what he uttered to Creon because he believed that he was not the murderer (14). The fault behind Oedipus? fate lies partly on Apollo and on the prophecy that he was told. Had he been blind to that prophecy he would have remained in Corinth and ruled as a true ruler. He would not have wed his mother nor murdered his father. But why do these things happen to Oedipus? Why when he tries to be the best does he get the worst? His fate led him there. He was doomed to follow the prophecy at

Oedipus Rex is a form of literature that teaches life’s simplest lessons that people have trouble accepting today; the truth will always find its way out. Oedipus was just an ordinary man, raised by who he thought were his real parents, was strong and clever, saved the city of Thebes from the Sphinx and became the king. Though Oedipus might’ve seemed like a hero at first, accusations were made against him about the murder of King Lauis and that’s where everything unraveled. No matter how hesitant and neglective he was discovering the truth, it all started making sense to him. Oedipus had no idea he married his own mother and had kids with her as well. However, Jocasta thought she could outsmart the prophecy by sending Oedipus to his death, as a baby, but the messenger and the Shepherd saved him and Oedipus’s destiny had yet to come true. This proves that one cannot stop something from happening, and cannot hide from the truth

When it comes to Oedipus, learning that he was destined to kill his father was one of the most devastating things to hear. Oedipus resented this prophecy immensely, and decided that the only way he was going to avert this disastrous fate was to move far away from his home, and everyone he loved. Oedipus wanted nothing more than to live a normal life where he did not live in fear of murdering his father and marrying his mother. To his dismay, this prophecy came true and Oedipus rued the day he was ever born. Oedipus is innocent of committing these heinous acts he spent a great deal of time and effort trying to avoid it. Oedipus only killed his father out of self defense, wedded his mother after glory, and even after he learned the truth became overwhelmed with guilt. Therefore, he is innocent because he committed these acts unknowingly.

To begin with, after learning about the story of Oedipus, one knows that Oedipus killed his father and married his mother. However, in the first episode of “Oedipus the King”, Oedipus does not know of this horrendous truth yet, and he heavily curses the murderer of the previous king and his father, Laius. Oedipus proclaims to the city of Thebes, “Now my curse on the murderer. Whoever he is, a lone man unknown in his crime or one among many, let that man drag out his life in agony, step by painful step- I curse myself as well… if by any chance he proves to be an intimate of our house, here at my hearth, with my full knowledge, may the curse I just called down on him strike me!” (Sophocles 280-286).

He tries to run away from the prophecy and in the midst of all these problems he finds ways to satisfy his hunger for a bit of justice. For example, before Oedipus had known about his prophecy he believed that Creon, his brother-in-law, had hired a false prophet in order to steal his reign and become

The Oedipus complex is believed to be a play off of the ancient Greek mythological character Oedipus Rex. According to the myth, Oedipus Rex was a Greek king that killed his father out of envy and rage in order to have his mother. If the ancient Greek myth is viewed in such a way, it would be possible to believe that Oedipus Rex, who had been given a prophecy advising of his fate, was attempting to fulfill such an obligation. From this, it would be possible to say that Oedipus Rex was driven to kill his father in order to live happily with his mother.