Peripeteia In Oedipus The King

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As Oedipus is trying to find out who killed Laius and about the prophecy, a messenger comes to him, and the messenger explains to him that Polybus is not his actual father. Peripeteia takes place in this scene when Oedipus discovers that his true parents are not Polybus and Merope. As the messenger brings the news that King Polybus is dead and that Oedipus is now king, he also tells Oedipus that “Polybus was nothing to you, that’s why, not in blood” (1113). This shows peripeteia because once it is known that Oedipus’s parents are not King Polybus and Merope, it turns him, a great king that solved the riddle of the Sphinx, into a man who is not even knowledgeable of where he originates. The reversal of fortune is realized by Jocasta, who now

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