In Sophocles’ tragedy drama Oedipus Rex we find a king who is only trying to save his city, but discovers himself along the way. The play begins with the city Thebes in a plague, which Oedipus calls on the god Apollo to try to stop. Creon returns from the temple at Delphi with the news that Apollo wants the killers of Laius gone. Oedipus calls on Tiresias the blind prophet to display information on the subject. Oedipus and Tiresias get in a heated quarrel when Tiresias tells Oedipus that “he himself is the murderer he looks for.” After Tiresias leaves, Oedipus accuses Creon of conspiring against Oedipus, and they get into another heated argument. Oedipus then speaks with Jocasta about the situation, and in the conversation, Oedipus gains information
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He seeks an answer from Apollo who tells him the murderer of the previous king Laius would have to be exiled from the city. Hearing the prophecy that the prophet from Delphi gives him, Oedipus decides to flee his home city of Corinth to avoid killing his father and marrying his mother. He flees to the city of Thebes which is under terrible oppression from the Sphinx. Oedipus answers a riddle and defeats her making him the new ruler of Thebes. Why did Oedipus go to Thebes to avoid the Delphi’s prophecy? One possibility would be because he was just drawn to it by fate. Another reason would be because he didn’t want to go too far from the place he called home. There is a bunch of foreshadowing, the warning or indication of a future event, during this play but a lot of it happens within the first act. In the beginning when addressing the city Oedipus tells the city that he will find and punish the murderer of King Laius even if it’s in the royal household. Trying to get some true answers, Oedipus turns to the prophet Tiresias who, after a very heated argument with Oedipus, finally gives the prophecy. Tiresias: “He shall be proved father and brother both to his own children in his own house; to her that gave him birth, a son and husband both; a fellow sower in his father’s bed with that same father that he murdered. (Meyers 1138)” This says that the prophecy will be proven by the man …show more content…
Although Oedipus was told he is blind to the truth by Tiresias, which is ironic, but it still did not matter to him.
Tiresias: “...Blind who now has eyes, beggar who now is rich, he will grope his way toward a foreign soil, a stick tapping before him step by step... (Meyer 1138)”
Becoming blind is a symbol in this play because being blind stands for now not seeing things that have becomes natural to you ugly to make you want to not see any more. However, this is what also motivates him to become blind, he married his mother and killed his father so he should not see any other trouble that he cause unknowingly at that time. Furthermore, the characters are revealed by how they are introduce by another character to help out the situation, which can and is leading to some conflicts but more likely to Oedipus himself. Oedipus’s conflicts with himself is not really solved by how you approach this play because many different interpretation can occur and to my belief he solved he own problem with being naturally
He seeks an answer from Apollo who tells him the murderer of the previous king Laius would have to be exiled from the city. Hearing the prophecy that the prophet from Delphi gives him, Oedipus decides to flee his home city of Corinth to avoid killing his father and marrying his mother. He flees to the city of Thebes which is under terrible oppression from the Sphinx. Oedipus answers a riddle and defeats her making him the new ruler of Thebes. Why did Oedipus go to Thebes to avoid the Delphi’s prophecy? One possibility would be because he was just drawn to it by fate. Another reason would be because he didn’t want to go too far from the place he called home. There is a bunch of foreshadowing, the warning or indication of a future event, during this play but a lot of it happens within the first act. In the beginning when addressing the city Oedipus tells the city that he will find and punish the murderer of King Laius even if it’s in the royal household. Trying to get some true answers, Oedipus turns to the prophet Tiresias who, after a very heated argument with Oedipus, finally gives the prophecy. Tiresias: “He shall be proved father and brother both to his own children in his own house; to her that gave him birth, a son and husband both; a fellow sower in his father’s bed with that same father that he murdered. (Meyers 1138)” This says that the prophecy will be proven by the man …show more content…
Although Oedipus was told he is blind to the truth by Tiresias, which is ironic, but it still did not matter to him.
Tiresias: “...Blind who now has eyes, beggar who now is rich, he will grope his way toward a foreign soil, a stick tapping before him step by step... (Meyer 1138)”
Becoming blind is a symbol in this play because being blind stands for now not seeing things that have becomes natural to you ugly to make you want to not see any more. However, this is what also motivates him to become blind, he married his mother and killed his father so he should not see any other trouble that he cause unknowingly at that time. Furthermore, the characters are revealed by how they are introduce by another character to help out the situation, which can and is leading to some conflicts but more likely to Oedipus himself. Oedipus’s conflicts with himself is not really solved by how you approach this play because many different interpretation can occur and to my belief he solved he own problem with being naturally