Truth In Oedipus Rex

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In the story of Oedipus, there are several examples that show man’s relationship with the truth. The oracle predicts the truth about the future of Laius, Jocasta, and Oedipus. Killing his father and marrying his mother are both examples of what the oracle predicted about them. In Oedipus Rex, Sophocles shows that, in the case of finding truth, if a man starts in search for the truth, he must find the whole truth, but if a man never starts in search for the truth, he can stay ignorant of the truth. The story of Oedipus shows that the better of the two is staying ignorant of the truth. If Jocasta and Laius had never found out the truth about the prophecy, they would not have tried to kill Oedipus, which would have resulted in the prophecy not …show more content…
Oedipus was then adopted by the King and Queen of Corinth. He believed that they were both his birth parents, so, when Oedipus had not stayed ignorant to the truth about the prophecy, he left in order that the prophecy not be fulfilled. Because of this event, Oedipus to meet Laius on a street. He then killed his own father by “swinging my club in this right hand I [Oedipus] knocked him out of his car, and he rolled on the ground. I [Oedipus] killed him.” Oedipus then continued on to marry his mother proving the prophecy about Oedipus being “damned in his birth, in his marriage, damned in the blood he shed with his own hands!” This event, of leaving the king and queen of Corinth, shows again the downfall of knowing the truth, causing him to to be pushed into following the prophecy. The direct effect of Oedipus knowing the truth and leaving Corinth is Oedipus killing Laius. This shows once again that, in the matter of knowing the truth, in is better to be ignorant of the truth than know the result …show more content…
Jocasta urges him to not continue by saying, “Listen to me, I beg you; do not do this thing!”, and also saying, “You are fatally wrong! May you never learn who you are!” Jocasta is urging him to stop searching for the truth for she realizes the truth about Oedipus and realizes that it would be better to not know the truth about Oedipus’s life. The Shepherd is also one that urges Oedipus not to discover the truth. The Shepherd knows the real truth about Laius’s death and about the prophecy, and he is urging Oedipus not to force him to tell it. Oedipus says that the Shepherd “will die now unless you [he] speak[s] the truth”. The shepherd eventually leads Oedipus to discover the truth about his life, that he is Laius’s own son, was adopted by the king and queen of Corinth, killed his own father, and married his mother. Discovering the truth leads Oedipus to his own downfall. Oedipus gouges his own eyed out and is now ashamed and lost in the world saying, “Is there a greater sorrow? Where shall I find harbor in this world?”. Oedipus knowing the truth leads him to his downfall. This is parallel to man. In one’s life, it is better to be ignorant to the truth, but, just like Oedipus, once a man starts to discover the truth, there is no way to stop until we have discovered the entire

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