Oedipus Rex Study

Often the past will present answers to questions about the future as well as questions of the now, and in Oedipus Rex, Oedipus’ past plays an integral role in his pursuit of righting the wrongs that are affecting him in the present. In the play, Oedipus must identify who has killed Laius in order to exile them to solve the qualms of his people, and in a dialogue with Jocasta, who happens to be his wife as well as his mother, she reveals to him details of the death of Laius that seem far too familiar for his comfort (Sophocles 27). This revelation of information acts as a catalyst that forces Oedipus to make the connection between his past and what Jocasta is telling him. This realization that he may have been responsible for Laius’ death exposes him to the weight of the pursuit of justice sometimes hold for humans. Through this dialogue, Oedipus comes to fear that he is the culprit of the scandal that is plaguing the situation, thus putting him in the position of a criminal who will face the due punishment for the crime. This internal conflict that Oedipus experiences creates and

This information makes Oedipus uneasy. He recalls having killed a man answering Laius' description at this very spot when he was fleeing from his home in Corinth to avoid fulfillment of a similar prophecy. An aged messenger arrives from Corinth, at this point, to announce the death of King Polybus, supposed father of Oedipus, and the election of Oedipus as king in his stead. On account of the old prophecy Oedipus refuses to return to Corinth until his mother, too, is dead. To calm his fears the messenger assures him that he is not the blood son of Polybus and Merope, but a foundling from the house of Laius deserted in the mountains. This statement is confirmed by the old shepherd whom Jocasta had charged with the task of exposing her babe. Thus the ancient prophecy has been fulfilled in each

The messenger reveals that Polybus and his wife are not Oedipus’s real parents. Oedipus was brought to palace to be raised after being found by a Sheppard. Oedipus asks that this shepherd reveal the truth to him, but Jocasta begins to beg him not to stop to try and find out the truth. The Sheppard finally reveals that Oedipus is son of Laius. Oedipus screams when he realizes the truth about his parents. A messenger says Jocasta has hanged herself, and Oedipus has chosen to stab out his eyes. Oedipus now declares he must be punished and exiled. He asks Creon to look after his daughters, Antigone and Ismene. Creon accepts the ascendency to the throne.

He is consumed in hubris as he disbelieved the oracles, and sealed his fate. Although he was cursed at birth for his father's misdeeds, his godlessness paired with vain pride leads him deeper into tragedy. Prophecy foretold that Oedipus would kill his father, and marry his mother. Jocasta, without belief in the gods, prays to them. She only prays to them at her own convenience. She prays to the altar of Apollo requesting that Oedipus doesn't learn the truth of the situation. Jocasta thinks that her prayer has come true. A messenger walks in, and reveals that Oedipus' dad has died. She doesn't want Oedipus to find out who his true parents are. Polybus was believed to be Oedipus' father. He was relieved to hear of Polybus' dying a natural death as a sign that the oracles are false. “PAGE 26/40 OEDIPUS...the oracles are dead-- Dust, ashes, nothing, dead as Polybus. JOCASTA “Tell me Oedipus, didn't I tell you this would happen a long time ago?” But Jocasta was just praying to those same 'powerless' gods. Despite the brief relief of his dead father, he refused to visit his mother. He feared the other half of the prophecy, for he was scared of scorn from the Gods. He constantly questions if it can be true, and wavers on the line of deception and truth. Oedipus lives in deception. He lives in constant sorrow and unease, for he is sacrilegious and hypocritical. “PAGE 26/40 OEDIPUS If only my mother

63) According to Tiresius, when Odysseus gets home, he will find some men. What will they be

Now Oedipus is forced to see the facts, about who he thinks is his father and his mother. For a example, "To the children with whom he lives now he will be Brother and father the very same; to her who bore him, son and husband the very same. Who came to his fathers bed, wet with his father's blood". (240-243) The truth is as clear as a crystal ball. He is forced to realize, "Wisdom changes hands among the wise".

Because of his commitment to his people and their suffering, he sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to Delphi to see the gods to find out why his city is under such a great plague and what he can do to stop it. Creon returns and says, “… It was murder that brought the plague-wind on the city” and that it was King Laios that was murdered years ago (Prologue, 104-105). Vowing to bring the murderer to justice and being a just King, Oedipus decrees that if the murderer reveals himself he will not be killed, he will be exiled. This determination and tenaciousness was the beginning of the end of King Oedipus.

He told me that he went to the Herdsman that had given him away as a young child. This is where he fell to the bottom of the hierarchy. Jocasta had warned him not to find the herdsman as she had already concluded that Oedipus was he son and didn’t want him to find the proof. Oedipus with his immense hubris, thought that she was convincing him not to go because she was afraid he was of not of noble blood, so he asked him anyway. The Herdsman told Oedipus, "the child was called his child; but she within, your wife would tell you best how all this was." Oedipus asked him in shock, "She gave it to you?" The Herdsman responded, "Yes...to make away with it...They said that he should kill his parents." (Sophocles 19). At this point Oedipus was crushed by the reality he had just been told. His hubris has lead him to losing his self esteem. He told me that later Jocasta was found dead by her own hand. With this Oedipus had lost love and belonging. He informed me that now he wished that he had died so that he could have avoided the horrid prophecy altogether. Finally, Oedipus dropped to physiological needs when he told his brother-in-law Creon, "Drive me from here with all the speed you can to where I may not here a human voice." (Sophocles 22). He no longer had safety or shelter and was set out to live on his own in

Tiresias takes pity on Oedipus and refuses to tell him the information that he knows, he tells Oedipus to abandon his search for Laius killer and continue to live blindly. Eventually he breaks, and tells Oedipus the truth, that it was him who killed the king, who was also his father. Jocasta, who is Oedipus wife, and birth mother, tells Oedipus to ignore the prophet, and again abandon his search. She recounts the murder of her former husband, and tries to convince Oedipus that he couldn't have been responsible, because he was killed at a crossroads by multiple bandits. The crossroads detail catches Oedipus's ears, and he begins to wonder if he could have been the one to kill his

The fact that Oedipus’s appearance resembled that of Jocasta’s first husband, Laius, was another piece of evidence that should have caused Jocasta to identify Oedipus as her son; this combined with the fact that Jocasta did not ascertain her son’s death was sufficient to obligate Jocasta to further inquire into the background of Oedipus. When Oedipus asks Jocasta to

The messenger was foreshadowing what might be coming to Jocasta. Jocasta begs Oedipus to stop looking into where he came from and he did not, this is also part of the reason why Jocasta commits suicide. It comes back to Oedipus’s actions that were meant to be serious but turned

One moment, Oedipus is brimming with hope; the next, he’s sure that he is the killer of his father, King Laius. Every time Oedipus thinks that it can’t possibly be him, evidence proves otherwise. His wife, Jocasta, attempts to prove his innocence but “lets out part of the dire secret by her allusion to the ‘triple crossroads’” (Haigh). By attempting to assist Oedipus, she

Oedipus questions Jocasta about Laius "how did he look? Describe him" (817) until Jocasta can not answer any more questions. The messenger then arrives to tell Oedipus that his father, Polybus, has died. Ironically, while relieving Oedipus's fear of killing his own father, the messenger causes even greater fears by telling Oedipus that Polybus is not his biological father. Oedipus then discovers that he was brought to Polybus when he was an infant and the shepherd found Oedipus on Mount Cithaeron. The shepherd unwillingly admits that he knew that Oedipus is the son of Jocasta and Laius. Finally, Oedipus discovers all the facts about his true identity and that he killed his own father and married his mother.

Oedipus’s faulty logic led him into believing that because Polybus is dead, he outsmarted his fate (Sophocles 49). When Oedipus learns that Polybus was not his father, from the Corinthian messenger, he continues to try to find out the truth. Oedipus tries to avoid the truth in the play, believing that he was the son of a slave. Jocasta cries because she realizes that Oedipus is her own son, but yet again, Oedipus is blind to this. The truth does not help Oedipus at all in the play.

Although clear vision often represents intelligence and insight in Greek beliefs, Oedipus’s perfect eyesight does not help him see the truth. Ironically, it is the blind Teiresias who knows the most and sees the farthest. Nevertheless, Oedipus is soon forced to confront the truth again, ironically because Iocaste tries to steer him away from the truth, when the details she reveal about how King Laios is killed matches in many details his own confrontation with King Laios. However, just as it seems Oedipus and Iocaste have returned to the path to the truth and the ultimate climax, they diverge off the path again as they latch themselves onto King Polybus’s death as surefire evidence that Oedipus is not the murderer. Oedipus is so happy and relieved to be able to convincingly blind himself to the truth again that he displays no grief for the father he loved, declaring that “Polybos has packed the oracles off with him underground” (50) with shocking triumph and carelessness for the