Question

Oedipus the King

How was Oedipus foolish, Heroic and Fated? To what extent can your emotions concerning him be described as pity and fear?

Answer 1

Oedipus was the child born to the king Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes.

In his youth, Laius was teaching Chrysippus, the youngest son of the king of Elis, in a chariot racing, Laius had abducted or seduced and raped Chrysippus who had killed himself in shame. The Laius family was cursed by the king of Elis for violating the custom of hospitality.

When Oedipus was born his father Laius consulted an oracle regarding his fortune, Laius was told that he will be killed by his own son as a result of the cursed and will be ruined.

In his infant year, Oedipus was ordered to be killed by his own father, but his mother Jocasta called a shepherd and gave away the son to him to be killed whose legs were binds together with the pin and swollen. The shepherd had given him the name Oedipus due to his swollen legs. The shepherd gave him to the childless king of Corinth named Polybus who raised him as his own son.

By the time he grew to manhood, he heard the rumor that he is not the real son of the king. He consulted an oracle who informed him that he is destined to mate with his own mother and kill his father. Oedipus taking the queen and king as his real parents to avoid the oracle forecast he left Corinth and went towards Thebes. On his way, he encounters Laius and he killed Laius over a quarrel.

On his way, Oedipus met Sphnix the beast who was punished and thrown on the way to Thebes, with the riddle to be asked by the passers-by if they failed to give the correct answer they were killed. Oedipus solved the riddle, as a result, the beast killed himself, and Oedipus was made the king of Thebes, and his own mother, who was a widow, now, became his wife, they raised children also, thus fulfilling the prophecy.

On the way to Thebes, he came to know the death of Polybus, he was happy that half the prophecy is not fulfilled, as he was taking him as his real father. He was curious to know that, whom he has killed? On knowing from different reliable sources, like the shepherd, he came to know that he has killed his real father Laius during the quarrel and mated with his own mother he was taken over by grief, guilt, and shame.

The queen was shocked to know that she mated with her own son, and raised children she was ashamed and killed herself. In a   rage, Oedipus had gone to cut her womb, he found her dead, and he took out the pins from her dress and pierced his eyes.

Oedipus had two daughters (half-sisters) they were sent out somewhere, and he was made to stay in the palace until the oracle is consulted again.

From the childhood till attaining manhood he had treated himself as the son of the king and queen of Corinth, a rumor regarding the parenthood made him upset and he left the loving care of their foster parents, was a really foolish decision made by him, and with the one impulsive decision led to the future that fulfilled the prophecy that he would kill his own father, and mate with his own mother.

In the end, he got nothing except shame guilt and hurt himself by piercing his own eyes. He became the source of fulfilling the prophecy without knowledge. If he would not have paid attention to the rumors and remained in Corinth, he could have survived this ill fate.