Transformations In The King, By Sophocles Oedipus The King

In the play Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, many themes are present that add to the complexity of the story. He explores the potential dangers of pursuing self-knowledge, the question of guilt and innocence, and the nature of fate. Throughout this journey, the characters undergo major transformations. Everything from how they see themselves and those around them, to the actions they take. Oedipus had the most drastic and noticeable change of all. Oedipus’ inability to control his emotions and as a result let them interfere with his actions, led to his downfall. He went from a confident and powerful king to a person so desperate and out-of-control that he gauges his own eyes out.

The play starts with words of suffering, as the city has been …show more content…
He jumped to conclusions and branded Creon a traitor, with no concrete proof, in front of all of Thebes. Even the Leader notices this - “(...) a slur might have been forced out of him, by anger, perhaps, not any firm conviction.” He had no proof, but his eagerness to act made him pin the murder on the first person he thought might have something to do with what Tiresias told him. This was not the case, Creon had nothing to do with it and he tried to explain that to Oedipus, but nevertheless he refused to listen to him. No matter how absurd he was being with his accusations, or how many times Creon stated that he wasn’t seeing things calmly or rationally, and that he had no evidence to claim he was the murder of Laius and to convict him for said murder. It is also made clear that Oedipus doesn’t have very good control over his emotions as he goes from considering Creon his most trusted friend to his mortal enemy, from one moment to the other with no actual proof of it. His imagination also went loose and he even started to believe Creon had been scheming and plotting against him and that he had the intention of killing him and stealing his crown and power. Although confidence is an important trait for a leader to have, too much of it combined with the unwillingness to hear others and inflexibility can cause for dreadful decisions. In this case, it means Oedipus was willing to accuse and convict Creon for a …show more content…
He is his last hope to uncovering the truth, as the shepherd is the only witness to the murder, and the one who found Oedipus when he was a baby. At this point Oedipus is becoming increasingly anxious to learn the truth, and when he finally does, he simply can’t bear it. At long last, the shepherd arrives, and with him the ghastly truth. Despite the fact the shepherd was unwilling to tell the truth, he eventually did, at the threat of torture. At last, when Oedipus realizes who his parents are, who he killed that day where the three roads cross, and how the prophecy was in fact realized, he fell apart. And then at the sight of a frantic and equally desperate Jocasta, whatever sanity he had left vanished. He “was raging - one of the dark powers pointing the way, (...) with a great shattering cry - someone, something leading him on - he hurled at the twin doors and bending the bolts back out of their sockets, crashed through the chamber.” (236), which shows just how frenzied he was after hearing such horrors. He wasn’t thinking about what he was doing, he was just acting, governed by his emotions of the moment. For instance, when he saw that Jocasta had hung herself, he “rips off her brooches, (...) and lifting them high, looking straight up into the points,