Storyline of the Play Oedipus the King - Essay Example

? of the Oedipus the King Life is unpredictable and entirely depends on fate. Humans are bound by the fate and, therefore, seem powerless in changing the most important aspects of life. Oedipus the King is the tragic play written in Greek by Sophocles in 429 BC. This play has been translated by many well known writers and translators in verse or prose form because of its popularity and excellent plot. Oedipus the King was translated by Robert Fagles in 1984 in verse form. The story of Oedipus the King has a protagonist named Oedipus. The actual story line of the play is not at all new to the audience. Sophohocles was impressed by the ancient story of Oedipus Rex and, though with some variations, he brought this dramatic irony to the audience with a strong message of inevitable fate. The writer grabs every opportunity to make the best use of this dramatic irony as the most impactful scenes of the play can only create the difference when the audience is already aware of the basic story line. Oedipus, the man of great insight, mostly discusses the blindness and sight in the play, which makes it a dramatic irony. Audience is well informed about the fact that it is the Oedipus who is not aware regarding the reality of his life that is held responsible for his decline. In the play, Oedipus said to the priest about the dying and damaging condition of Thebes that he is very much aware, although he was actually not: ”I pity you. I see-how could I fail to see What longings bring you here? Well I know” (70-71) Oedipus makes all the conscious efforts to unveil the reality and knows about the truth but the audience perceives that he is just a mere puppet in the hands of pre-written fate. The irony at some places makes the audience believe that Oedipus willingly brings the disastrous condition upon him by uncovering the reality. Another example is when Oedipus said: “You should have searched. But I am the king now, I hold the throne that he held then, possess his bed And a wife who shares our seed… why, our seed Might be the same, children born of the same mother Might have created blood-bonds between us If his hope of offspring had not met disaster”(294-299) The audience has a painful impact as they know about the actual reality of the king, although Oedipus thinks contrary to the fact that he is a proud and powerful king. Oedipus’s efforts to know his own identity and to change the determined fate represent the main idea behind the play, but it is the bitter reality that fate cannot be changed by the humans and, therefore, the reality makes the Oedipus an example of pity and fear. In the beginning, the fine characteristics of Oedipus make the audience feel like he is the most desirable leader who wants to free his nation from the plague. He becomes the king of Thebes by answering the riddle of Sphinx. The citizens of Thebes are now falling dead, the crops are getting withered, women and newborns are dying because of the plague. The inhabitants of Thebes want to get relieved from this curse by gathering around and praying to God. Oedipus calls the priest to know the reason of the gathering and gets an answer to save Thebes from dying. Being sorrowed, he asks his brother in law Creon to go to Delphic oracle to get the answer of how to control this plague. Creon comes with an answer from the oracle to eliminate the corruption from Thebes and also narrates that murderer of the former king Laius is in Thebes, which means finding and killing the murderer will restore peace in the city. He further tells Oedipus about the murder of Laius that there is only one person alive in the attack who has mentioned that the king was murdered by a group of thieves. On asking the reason for slow investigation, Creon gives the reason that due to the tension caused by riddle of Sphinx they were unable to focus on solving the murder issue. In this way, Oedipus takes the stand to find out the real murderer to remove the plague. He is determined to punish the culprit even if he belongs to his own family: “Now my curse on the murderer.  Whoever he is, A lone man unknown in his crime Or one among many let that man drag out His life in agony, step by painful step- I curse myself as well…if by any chance He proves to be an intimate of our house, Here at my hearth, with my full knowledge, May the curse I just called down on him strike me!” (280-287) To reveal the identity of the murderer, Creon brings lord Tiresias on the order of Oedipus. Lord Tiresias is the blind prophet of Apollo to Thebes who has the power to reveal the name of the murderer. On reaching the royal palace, lord Tiresias tries to convince Oedipus not to force him to reveal the identity of the murderer as it is something king won’t absorb. With all the anger and insults of his blindness, Oedipus blames him and Creon to be responsible for the murder and wants to overthrow him. These remarks force Tiresias to tell the truth that Oedipus is the real murderer: “You mock my blindness? Let me tell you this You with your precious eyes, You’re blind to the corruption of your life, To the house you live in, in those you live with- Who are your parents? Do you know? All knowing You are the scourge of your own flesh and blood, The dead below the earth and the living here above, And the double lash of your mother and your father’s curse Will whip you from this land one day, their footfall Treading you down in terror, darkness shrouding Your eyes that can now see the light!” (469-479) Further, he also reveals that Oedipus considers himself witty and sharp but he does not even know about his own parents. The murderer of king Laius, i.e. Oedipus, is the brother and father of his own children and to his mother he is a son and also a husband: ”Revealed at last, brother and father both To the children he embraces, to his mother Son and husband both- he sowed the loins His father sowed, he spilled his father’s blood.” (520-524) Oedipus gets so much angered and intrigued on the taunts of the blind lord that he orders him to leave. After arguing with Creon, Oedipus talks to his wife, the Queen of Thebes Jacosta, to tell him more about king Laius as being his first wife. She recalls that Laius was once told by the oracle that he will be killed by his own son. Out of fear, he bound the ankles of his three year old son and killed him on a mountain. She further says that oracle seems false as the king was murdered by the thieves on a three way cross roads. But Oedipus gets confused and wants to know the actual reality as he was puzzled by the old prediction of the oracle when he was the price of Corinth that he would murder his father and sleep with his mother. To prevent the circumstances, he left Corinth and came to Thebes. But the harsh fate follows him. Jacosta tries to calm him down by saying that prophecies can only be lies. Oedipus logically thinks that he is the murderer of the king after knowing some truths. But the final revelation is done by the shepherd who found the baby on the mountains with bound ankles many years back and give it to the king of Corinth named Polybus. Initially, Oedipus thought that his father was Polybus and he died naturally that makes the oracle a false one. But now, the whole situation has horrified him and made him believe that he is the victim of fate. Jacosta killed herself after knowing that Oedipus is her own son and murderer of her first husband. Oedipus, who unknowingly killed his biological father and married his biological mother, cursed himself and embraced the death body of Jacosta where he took the gold pin from the Jacosta’s clothes and stabbed out his eyes as he considered him responsible for the king’s murder and for plague to Thebes. After knowing the truth, he does not want to see the world anymore. This tragic incident brings tears into the eyes of the audience knowing that it is not the fault of the Oedipus but it was already written in his fate, which is inevitable and one cannot change it according to the will: “O god- All come true, all burst to light! O light-now let me look my last on you! I stand revealed at last- Cursed in my birth, cursed in marriage, Cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands!” (1306-1310) Oedipus accepts the fact that life cannot be controlled by a person and things will happen as written in fate, no matter how many steps you take to avoid the situation. The blind Oedipus is unable to see his own children and he entitles the responsibility of his two daughters to Creon who takes the throne after the self exile of Oedipus. In simple words, it can be said that in search of truth, Oedipus willingly put his life in everlasting agony and dismay: “Man of agony- That is the only name I have for you.” (1177-1178) The audience feels here that Oedipus is the tragic figure in the play rather than a murderer. He inflicted the punishment of blindness and self exile on him because he is a man of words. He is unable to change the inevitable fate and in the end one can say that humans are miserable and can only find peace after death: “Now as we keep our watch and wait the final day, Count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last.” (1683-1684) Works cited Sophocles. Robert Fagles, Bernard M. G. W. Knox, and Sophocles. The Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus. New York, N.Y: Penguin Books, 1987. Print. Read More