Sympathy For The Evil Character In 'Oedipus The King'

In some plays an important character might be recognized as being evil by actions alone. Readers though in some cases can feel sympathy towards the “evil” character because they can see the different side of tem from the rest of society. The author of “Oedipus the King” uses dramatic irony to illustrate the audience’s sympathy towards Oedipus’s blindness to his fate. The readers of the play knew that Oedipus indeed fulfilled his fate by killing his father and marrying his mother without realizing it. During Oedipus’s journey to find the killer of Laius, some truth started to become known to Oedipus that the audience already knew. Eventually, he learns that he did kill his father and marry his mother at the end of the play. After seeing what his blindness caused, Oedipus actually blinds himself by gouging out his eyes. The audience will see that his self inflicted harm is the result of guilt and disgust. Society will see Oedipus as evil because he committed a sin,incest, by marrying his mother. He will also be seen as evil because he killed his father even though he had no knowledge. Society cans say that he is evil because of these sins but ultimately he shouldn’t be punished as “evil” when he had no idea of his fate. The readers knew that he was given up as a baby to his “adoptive parents” but Oedipus went on living thinking that they …show more content…
It wasn't his fault that no one told nim who his real parents were. Through the deception of some characters like Tiresias, Oedipus never got a straight answer of the truth until it was too late. The audience can feel what Oedipus is feeling because they knew important information before Oedipus. This is how the author created the sympathetic feeling from the audience because they feel bad that Oedipus went through all the trouble to not do what his fate said but failing because it had already