Self-Damnation in Oedipus the King Essay -- Oedipus Rex Essays

Self-Damnation in Oedipus Rex (the King) Sophocles play Oedipus Rex (the King) is a tragic tale of fate and hubris. At first glance, it searchs that the terrible fates of the master(prenominal) characters be merely the doings of mischievous or cruel gods. That Laios should stall at the hands of his unknowing son, that Jocaste should later marry that son to generate the crime of incest, and that Oedipus, the son, should be the actor in both crimes all seem to be deeds scripted unfairly by the gods for their receive pleasure. However, upon examining the designate in the play, it becomes clear not only that Laios and Jocaste directly cause their own fates by abandoning the infant Oedipus to die on the mountain, but that Oedipus is himself a unstrained participant in his own crimes. In choosing to abandon Oedipus upon his birth, Laios and Jocaste try to maintain the fulfillment of Apollos prophecy Laios down at the hands of a son, our son, to be born of our own flesh and blood (Sophocles 201). They fastened the babys ankles and had a companion fling him away on a barren, trackless mountain (201). This done, the tabby and queen live their lives believing that they are safe from any insecurity that the child might pose. It is their cowardly act of attempting to escape fate that seals their doom, however. non only do they decide to kill their only child, but they are unable to do so in a humane manner. earlier than relieve their son of any misery, they tie his ankles together and abandon him to the pugnacious elements of nature on a mountain. They are blissfully unaware that a shepherd has taken pity on the royal child and has delivered him to the vex of King Polybos of Corinth (218). Clearly, by their self-preserving act of child-abandonment, Lai... ...renberg, Victor. Sophoclean Rulers Oedipus. In Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, change by Michael J. OBrien. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Herodotus. The Historie s. Translated by Aubrey de Selincourt. England Penguin Books, 1972. Segal, Charles. Oedipus Tyrannus Tragic gallantry and the Limits of Knowledge. New York Twayne Publishers, 1993. Sophocles In Literature of the Western World, edited by Brian Wilkie and pile Hurt. NewYork Macmillan Publishing Co., 1984. Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Transl. by F. Storr. http//etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed new?tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/ face/modeng/parsed&part=0&id=SopOedi Bowra, C. M. Sophocles Use of Mythology. In Readings on Sophocles, edited by Don Nardo. San Diego, CA Greenhaven Press, 1997.