Oedipus has sent Creon, his brother-in-law, to the house of Apollo to ask help from the oracle. And now, Creon returns with the instruction: Thebes will be cured of the plague, as soon as the killer of the previous king, Laius, is caught. After hearing this, Oedipus vows to find out the murderer and punish him. With the suggestion from chorus, Oedipus also summons the blind prophet Tiresias for help. When Tiresias arrives, he claims that even though he knows the truth, he is reluctant to answer.
Tiresias puts forth one last riddle, saying that the murderer of Laius will turn out to be both father and brother to his own children, and the son of his own wife. After Tiresias leaves, Oedipus threatens Creon with death or exile for conspiring with the prophet. Oedipus’s wife, Jocasta, enters and asks why the men shout at one another. Oedipus explains to Jocasta that the prophet has charged
The first character flaw responsible for the tragedy is king and queen of Thebes’ (Oedipus’ parents’) belief in an oracle about their son. The prophecy told by this oracle said that their son would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. In order to try to prevent this from happening, Iocaste and Laios pierced the child’s feet, tied them together, and instructed their servant to leave the child in the wilderness to die, which is the second character flaw. In the text, the shepherd explains everything to Oedipus. “If you must be told, then…/They said it was Laios’ child/I was told to get rid of it/It was said that the boy would kill his own father”(56-62).
He says that the man who killed the former king of Thebes is among them, it is a blind who could see before, a beggar who was rich, he is brother to his own children, son and husband to a woman who bore him, and son and killer to his father. The climax is the point when Oedipus knows the truth, that he is the murder of the King Laius and his father, and married his own mother, Queen Jocasta. For this fatal answer of Tiresias, Oedipus starts blaming Creon that he is the one who brought Tiresias. Now as he announced in the beginning that the killer will be punished and banished from the kingdom, he must do it. Oedipus blinds himself as a punishment and Jocasta hangs herself, after telling the truth that
When Oedipus asks why this case was not investigated the people respond that they were too busy trying to solve the sphinx’s riddle. Oedipus vows that no matter what the cost is, he will get to the bottom of it, both because it harmed Thebes and Laius was noble and loyal. Oedipus calls upon Teiresias, the blind prophet, and forces him to reveal what he knows of the murder. Teiresias reluctantly tells Oedipus that he killed his father and sleeps with his mother. Oedipus accuses him of lying on Creons behalf so Creon could kill Oedipus and take the throne.
Sophocles seems to even mock the believers a few times, by telling the audience how there is no point in struggling against what is meant to happen, In Oedipus Rex, we finally see the conclusion of the prophecy made at the beginning of the Oedipus Trilogy. As Oedipus tries to hunt down the man who killed Laius, the audience already knows that it was in fact himself who did it. The audience at the time still believed in prophecies, so they would have expected Oedipus to kill his father and marry his mother. Sophocles seems to even mock the believers a few times, by telling the audience how there is no point in struggling against what is meant to happen, In ancient Greece, the Greeks accepted Fate to be a reality that no one could control, and that determined the course of an individual’s life. Nowadays the idea of fate sounds ridiculous and has become something that belongs in a fantastical tale.
King Oedipus sends his brother-in-law, Creon, to seek the advice of Apollo aware of the fact that a terrible curse has been put upon Thebes. Creon informs Oedipus that the curse will be lifted if the murderer of Laius, who was the king prior to Oedipus, is found and prosecuted. Laius is known to be murdered many years ago at a crossroads. Therefore, Oedipus assigns himself to discover and prosecute whoever it was that murdered Laius. Oedipus begins his quest by questioning a series of citizens.
The curse on Thebes serves as the conflict in the story. Oedipus plays the force moving to resolve the conflict by seeking the late king’s killer. He learns early on how to lift the curse, but is unable to because of his failure to realize that he is the murderer of Laïos. He is the force that opposes the protagonist’s motion in that it is his inability to accept guilt and his ignorance of this guilt that delays the removal of the curse. In addition, Oedipus’ role as the antagonist is concretized by his having caused the conflict: he is guilty of the murder of Laïos and is therefore the bringer of the curse.
A reaction to news like that could consist of almost anything. Although in Prince Hamlet’s case, he learns of his father’s murder from his father himself, “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder, Murder? Murder most foul, as in the best it is; But this most foul, strange, and unnatural” (I,V, 30-33). Hamlet is told to avenge the murder of his father by the ghost of King Hamlet. Although he simply plans to put on an anti-disposition and eventually kill whom he believes to be the murderer of his father, Claudius.
"Good wombs have borne bad sons"(Act 1, Sc.2, Line 143) says Miranda after she hears of the things Antonio had done in the past. Prospero tells how his own brother, Antonio, went behind his back to remove him from power and claim Prospero's Dukedom for his own. Antonio had worked with Alonso, the king of Naples, to raise an army and drive Prospero into the hands of death. Trying to kill his only brother that he has known for his entire life, Antonio wanted to have the power that Prospero had. "Draw thy sword.