A Review of the Story of Oedipus

Greek theater revolves around its people's belief in the gods and the fate that is dealt to them by the gods. One of the most widely recognized Greek tragedies is "Oedipus the King," written around 430 B.C. by Sophocles. For centuries the story of Oedipus has been passed on as the story of a great king who once tried to escape the fate dealt to him by the gods. Blinded by his own ego, his greatest fault, he unknowingly flees directly into the hands of fate, thus leading him to his own destruction.

Oedipus's fate to kill his father and marry his mother was made known to his parents upon his birth. Out of fear they bound his feet together and gave him to a servant to take into a field and leave to die. The servant pitied the child and gave him to another. Oedipus survived. He grew up thinking he was the biological son of his adoptive parents. Later he, too, was told of his fate. He then fled from it, only to fall directly into the hands of his fate. He kills his father in travel and arrives in Thebes, where he solves the mystery of the Sphinx and becomes king. He then marries Jocasta, his mother. By believing, unquestioningly, in the fate that the oracle tells him is his destiny, and by believing that he is great enough to escape it, Oedipus thus seals his fate. His ego overpowers him, blinding him to his actions, and he is unable to see that he is playing directly into the hands of the gods.

As the king of Thebes, Oedipus's rule is threatened by a great plague that threatens to destroy the city. A seer says that the cause of the plague is Apollo's anger toward the murderer of Laius, the former king. Oedipus curses the murderer, failing to realize that he is cursing himself. His greatest virtue (his confidence in himself) is his greatest weakness. As the king of Thebes, the only man to solve the riddle of the Sphinx, he does not believe himself to be the murderer of Laius. He thus blinds himself again to the truth.

When the truth is revealed at the end of the play that Oedipus is indeed the murderer, he refuses to believe it. He is blind to all of the facts: his limp, the man he killed on his journey, the death of the king of Thebes just before his arrival. But the truth is pointed out to him. He discovers the truth of his birth and the shocking horror that the prophecy of his fate has come true. Upon learning this, Jocasta, his wife and his mother, takes her own life. Oedipus then realizes his own blindness and stupidity and pokes his eyes out. He then begs to be exiled, driven from the place he called his home.

Oedipus's ego is the cause of his downfall. He becomes so involved in being the participant in his own life that he fails to step out and see his life for what it really is. He is so absorbed in the idea of himself as the king of Thebes, the ruler of the people, the only man who had the intelligence to solve the prophecy of the Sphinx, that he fails to see that he is still only a human being who makes mistakes.