Oedipus the King I. This play is about a king, Oedipus, that has a plague troubling his kingdom. In order for the plague to end the murderer of the previous king, Laius, has to be banished from the kingdom or killed to make up for the murder of the king. Through oracles and prophesies King Oedipus comes to find out that he is the murderer of King Laius and that he was also his father. Oedipus also discovers that his wife and widow of King Laius, Jocasta, is also his mother.
He leaves Corinth and travels to Thebes, and on the way he unknowingly kills his father during a quarrel. After saving Thebes from the Sphinx, he is given the hand of Queen Jocasta, his mother, for marriage and he becomes the new king of Thebes. One of the many reasons Oedipus is a coward is that he didn’t want to face his parent s again. His thought at the moment when he blinds himself is that if he killed himself he will see his real parents in the underworld, who he had committed those crimes against. Instead of repenting for his sins he escapes them.
Tragic heroes are people that are fated by the Gods or by supernatural force to doom destruction or at least to great suffering. Oedipus is to blame for the plague because he didn’t know that Laius was his real father and that he was sleeping with his own mother. In order to pay for what he has done he stabbed his eyes out but not fully killing himself because he wanted to please the gods and asked Creon to exile himself from king. He to blame for his downfall because when Jocasta tried to steer him in another direction he chose to go the opposite way which caused him to find out the truth. He chose to kill Laius and find out what his real back round was instead of doing his regular routine.
In Oedipus the King, one trait that makes Oedipus a tragic hero is that he is responsible for his own fate. Oedipus marries his mother, Queen Jocasta, and kills his father, King Lauis. When Oedipus is communicating with the city of Thebes he says, “Not pointed out as wedded to the one who weaned me. Now I am god-abandoned a son of sin and sorrows all incest-sealed with the womb that bore me” (74). Also, when the official who is telling the city of Thebes that Oedipus blinded himself he says, “He shouts for all the barriers to be unbarred and he displayed to all of Thebes, his father’s murderer, his mothers…no, a word too foul to say…”(71).
In ancient Greece fate was very strongly believed in. Fate is defined as something that unavoidably falls upon a person. Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, is old Grecian literature that really makes the reader think about whether there really is such a thing called fate or free will. In Oedipus the King an unfortunate man, named Oedipus, is given a prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Despite Oedipus’s tries to make sure his prophecy does not come true.
In Sophocles “Oedipus the king”, Oedipus was sent to mount Cithaeron as a new born baby to die after his father (King Laius) was cursed by the gods and heard of a prophecy that his son is to kill his father and marry his mother (Queen Jocasta). The Shepard in charge of this could not kill the baby so instead Oedipus is adopted. Later Oedipus hears about the prophecy, and leaves, afraid that the prophecy would come true. Along the way he gets in a fight with a man and kills him, unknowingly his father. He then solves a riddle from the Sphinx, which has been terrorizing a kingdom, and in return, the kingdom gives him their queen's hand in marriage, which is his biological mother.
“So excellent a king.” (Act 1, Scene 11, Line 149) this proves how much he wanted to be like him. Hamlet’s mother marriage with King Claudius, makes Hamlet upset because King Claudius was his father’s brother. “ Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole With juice of cursed hebona in a vial.” ( Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 61-62) Hamlet finds out that Claudius killed his father to take the throne when he talked with his father’s ghost. This gave reason to Hamlet to avenge his father’s death. Hamlet makes his first move against King Claudius by telling the actors to play a tragic play by which he can see King Claudius’s reaction.
During the play, Oedipus realizes his own flaws while he investigates who the "true killer" of Laius is. The first character flaw is presented in the play Oedipus is Oedipus acting impulsively. When Oedipus first heard his prophecy from the Delphi oracle, he made an exodus out of Corinth as soon as he could. While on his journey to Thebes, a caravan cut him off. Enraged, Oedipus killed all the men except one.
His father had killed him and served his flesh to the gods, hoping to fool the gods. The gods punished Tantalus and restored Pelops to life. Demeter, who had eaten part of shoulder blade, replaced it with ivory shaped like his shoulder blade. When Pelops reached manhood, he heard that King Oenomaüs (Oenomaus) of Pisa, the son of Ares and Asterope, challenged his suitors to a chariot race, offering his daughter Hippodaemia's hand in marriage as the prize. However, any suitors who lose the race against the king also forfeit his life.
In the play Oedipus’ parents (King Lauis and Queen Jocasta) send him away to be killed because of prophecy that tells that Oedipus would one day kill his father (Laius) and marry his mother Jocasta. "He'll be revealed a brother and a father to his children in his house, husband and son to her who gave him birth; wife-sharer and the killer of his father." (Sophocles, line 457) However the servant did not kill Oedipus instead giving him to a childless King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth, who then raised him. Oedipus