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.
He had help by means of his followers and the princess. Nothing like William Wallace, Gilgamesh fought the monster by himself. Gilgamesh fought to save his friend and became famous for that. Their challenges were successful because they meet their goals. William Wallace was wrath at the British for killing his wife.
The main conflict of the play starts with the plague that Oedipus has to void in order to save the people of Thebes. Everything was good after he solved Sphinx’s riddle and became a king. To find the answer to a terrible plague that started to destroy the city, he sends a messenger to oracle. The answer received was to find and punish the killer of Laius, a former king of Thebes. He was told that the only man who escaped from the group of robbers, who attacked the king, is in the city.
The abomination is the one who killed the previous king of Thebes, King Laius. Over the course of the play it is revealed that Jocasta had a child and a prophecy similar to Oedipus’ was placed on the child, so she had the child to be shackled and thrown into the desert. Instead of being left in the desert the baby is given to a shepherd and the shepherd then gives the child to the king of Corinth. This child is Oedipus. Oedipus was raised without knowing that he was King Laius son.
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). Even though Oedipus didn’t know that Lauis was his father it was still his choice to kill him and marry Jocasta although it was his mother. In addition to Oedipus being responsible for his fate he is also endowed with a tragic flaw and is doomed to make a serious error in judgment. Oedipus is arrogant and stubborn and these flaws cause him to accuse people of things they didn’t do. For example, when Oedipus says to Tiresias,”Yes, you, you planned this thing, and I suspect you of the very murder even, all but the actual stroke” (20).He is accusing Tiresias of murdering Lauis when the actual murderer is Oedipus himself.
In the quote, “Child by Laios doomed to die” (Sophocles 66) .Oedipus shows his identity of a tragic hero because in this quote, the fate of his birth was soon detailed that he was eventually bound to die. His noble birth is best portrayed when it is said “ O Marriage, O Marriage The act endangered me, and again the act performed by the son in the same bed” (Sophocles 75). This quote tells that his mother was his wife and that the same woman who raised him is the same woman he is courting. The second trait that identifies a tragic hero tells that a tragic hero must have a tragic character flaw. Oedipus displays this
Kris Zelensky Sep 6, 2011 Hon World Lit Paper Can you escape fate? Can those who have been extremely successful in life landing on top escape failure? In “Oedipus Rex” Sophocles wrote about King Oedipus’ adverse fate. A prophet told King Laius he would be murdered by his own son. So Laius gave his son to a servant to leave him abandoned to die.
“However, even before a name had been given to the infant, Apollo’s oracle foretold nothing but ill: he was destined one day to kill his father and then to become his mother’s husband. (Gee 194)” It just so happened that fate intervened once more. “When Oedipus became a young man he heard a rumour that he had been adopted … he therefore went to Delphi and asked the ministers of Apollo who his true parents where, but all he was told was that he would kill his father and marry his mother. (Gee 194)” Oedipus, thinking that the king and queen of Corinth are his parents, leaves in attempt to escape that destiny, to no avail. By leaving, he left behind his parents, family members and friends.
First off, Apollo sent an oracle to deliver a prophecy to Jocasta and King Laius saying “ that doom would strike him down at the hands of a son, our son, to be born of our own flesh and blood.” (787-788) Years later, Jocasta’s husband, King Laius is escorted out of the city when he knocked a traveller on the head with his staff. The wanderer, furiously lashes out and kills Laius along with his entire escort. Furthermore, Jocasta unknowingly marries her son Oedipus, later on has his children. These tragic events are one of the reasons that makes the ending so climactic. The city of Thebes is the main area where the events take place.
“An oracle came to Laius one fine day…and it said that doom would strike him down at the hands of a son, our son, to be born of our own flesh and blood” (Sophocles 784-788). This predestined fate is what started the chaos that brought down two kings. Although the Oracle at Delphi told this fate to Laius, Laius had a son anyways, but decided to discard his son after birth. The child, Oedipus, was not discarded of easily, he was sent to the hills to die, but a caring shepherd saved him and brought him to a new family and a new city. Laius’ decision to discard of Oedipus ultimately caused Oedipus to question where he came from and his origin.