Oedipus the King, and Oedipus in Colonus - Essay Example

Oedipus the King, and Oedipus in Colonus Oedipus the King Oedipus was a mythical Greek king of Thebes who fulfilled a prophecy that stated that he will commit a regrettable crime of murdering his father and wed his mother at one point in his life. This prophesies was passed even before his birth to his mother and father who were royals. His father, king Laius of Thebes and Jocasta his wife were cautioned through an oracle known as the Delphic oracle that should they give birth to a son, the son would kill Laius and marry Jocasta. When Jocasta conceived and had a baby, it turned out to be a boy (Bartleby.com). Laius tried to stop the prophecy by piercing the baby’s legs and binding them then leaving him for death up at a mountain. A shepherd on his own errand picked up the baby and took him to his king back home, King Polybius of Corinth (Jebb). Polybus named the picked baby boy Oedipus which held the meaning of swollen foot. He raised the child as his own; hence Oedipus grew up a normal being knowing that his real father was Polybius and not having the slightest idea of his own identity of fate. Oedipus grew up normally, and when he got to his adulthood, he decided to consult the Oracle of Delphi to know about the future that lay for him like any normal man. He learnt about his prophesied life from the oracle, and it was the same prophesy that had been told to his father. The problem was that the oracle did not tell him who his real father was, so him knowing that Polybus was his real father and trying to avoid killing him, he left. He left for Thebes so that he would be away from his ‘father’ Polybius and avoid prophesy, and with that, he thought he would avoid it all (Crane). On his way to Thebes, Oedipus met with pilgrims who were on their own way heading to Delphi. He asked the pilgrims to get out of his way so that he would pass and continue with his journey, but they refused. Having refused to yield to his demand, out of rage he killed all the pilgrims. What he did not know was that his biological father was the leader of the crew of the pilgrims. He had fulfilled part of the prophesy by murdering Laius his biological father mistakenly. He thought and felt nothing about his act of having killed the pilgrims and carried on with his journey. When he got to Thebes, he got that Thebes had problems of its own (Unit 3: Athenian Drama, ppt). There was a sphinx which had stationed herself outside the gated of Thebes and was posing a riddle to everyone. The riddle was ‘What has four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening?’ The sphinx put it clearly that would anyone answer correctly; she would leave, and if not she would eat the unfortunate person. When Oedipus got to Thebes, so far no one had managed to answer the riddle appropriately, so he tried his luck and guessed that the answer was man. He got the riddle correct, and the sphinx left which made the people filled with so much joy that they made Oedipus king. As king, he married the sitting queen who happened to be Jocasta. The full prophesy had come to pass; Oedipus had murdered his biological father and wedded his own mother. Oedipus and the queen Jocasta got married and had four children, Polynices, Antigone, Etocles and Ismene. A plague then happened to hit the city of Thebes, and was to stop until the earlier king passes away. Lauis’ murderer had been avenged. Oedipus swore that he would kill those guilty of the murder once he knew them. What he did not know was that he was the guilty murderer of Lauis. They tried to solve the mystery as much as they could, but to no avail; hence they consulted the great seer, Tiserias. Tiserias told them the truth about the whole prophecy, who it involved and what had really happened. Jocasta was so horrified about the revelation that she committed suicide through hanging herself and Oedipus gorged out his personal eyes, limiting and banishing himself. Oedipus at Colonus After banishing himself from Thebes, Oedipus leaves with his daughter (sister) who leads him all over searching for where Oedipus can be allowed to stay. They end up Colonus, where the people try to send him away to avoid misfortunes. The king of the land, Theseus, takes pity on him and orders that he be left to stay at the land. Oedipus thanked the king immensely for taking pity on him after being chased and refused by everyone else (Jebb). Oedipus then tells the king to give him a descent burial at Colonus for it will bring great prosperity to the land. He says that part of the prophesy was the fact that his body would bring great prosperity to the land on which he would be buried (Bartleby.com). Theseus tries to ask him why he does not wish to go back home. Oedipus states the cruelty imposed on him by the inhabitants of Thebes the untrustworthiness imposed by him by even his own children. It was only the eternal gods who remained by him who promised greatness for the land which would take him in (Crane). Theseus pledges loyalty to Oedipus and swears never to leave him or betray him. Thus, he dies and gets buried at Colonus and prosperity comes over the land. Conclusion The tragic life is quite paradoxical. This is because it is one of free will as well as that of fate. This is because though all this was fated by a prophesy; Oedipus had choices like he had a choice on whether to kill the pilgrim team which had his father in as well as he had a choice of refusing to marry the queen, but somehow he did all of them. Work Cited Bartleby.com. Sophocles (c.496 B.C.–406 B.C.).  Oedipus the King. The Harvard Classics.  1909–14. 2012. Web. November 28, 2012. Available at Crane, Gregory. 2012. Welcome to Perseus 4.0, also known as the Perseus Hopper. Perseus Digital Library. Web. November 28, 2012. Available at< http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/ > Jebb, Richard. Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus. Web. November 28, 2012. Available at Unit 3: Athenian Drama. Sophocles, Oedipus the King 7-13 November & Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus. 14-20 November. Powerpoint. Read More