Oedipus Final Assignment

The play titled Oedipus Rex follows the tragic hero named Oedipus on his journey to solve the mystery. Oedipus is King over the land of Thebes with Jocasta his wife and queen right by his side. Oedipus was deemed as the hero of Thebes because he was able to solve the riddle of the Sphinx which in turn allowed the city to be free. However, he had many traits that made him become more of a tragic hero. This is due to certain personality traits that he possesses such as being rash, ignorant, entitled, etc. With every tragic hero there will be an eventual downfall that is endured by this character. In this case, once Oedipus finds out the answers to the question he was seeking, his life would be forever changed. 

The investigation begins where the people of Thebes come to Oedipus to help prevent the plague. Oedipus’ solution to this is sending his brother named Creon to retrieve the oracle. The oracle comes to the town and tells Oedipus that they need to find the person that murdered the previous king named Laius. If they find and give the murderer the proper punishment, the land would be free of the plague. This leads Oedipus on a hunt to find out who was the murderer of Laius. Tiresia, the blind prophet, was requested by Oedipus to see if they had any information on who the murderer is. Tiresia claims Oedipus to be Laius' murderer. This enraged Oedipus because he does not recall doing such a thing. He believes Tiresia to be spreading false claims. Oedipus is now in search of the truth, especially since his own character is at risk. 

Oedipus speaks to his wife, Jocasta, because he is confused and enraged about the claims made by Tiresia. Jocasta remembers a prophecy that was given to her and her husband stating that they were going to die due to their son. To prevent this, Jocasta and her husband sent the child away to be killed. Oedipus begins to make connections between his own experiences and what Jocasta is saying. He calls for a shepherd who was the only one that witnessed Laius' death and survived. Before the shepherd arrived, Oedipus remembers that he was told that he was not his parents' child. In fear he goes to an oracle that tells him that he will murder his father and sleep with his mother. Trying to escape this prophecy, he runs to another land far away from where his “parents” are. Jocasta realizes that Oedipus is actually her son, and he killed Laius. As an act of protection she begs Oedipus to stop trying to find information about this case. Refusing, Oedipus makes the shepherd speak and the shepherd confirms what Jocasta realized to be true. This is that Oedipus is the murderer of Laius. 

The results of the investigation illuminate the overall meaning of the work. This is because it helps to solidify the central themes of the play. One of those themes being that you cannot escape your destiny. It is the argument of fate versus free will. With Oedipus trying to escape his fate that was told to him when he went to see the oracle. In his escape, he actually made the events happen. Additionally, the results show an interesting distinction of the use of blindness in this play. At the beginning of the novel, Oedipus refused to believe that he was the murderer of Laius. He was told by Tiresia who is physically blind that he was the murderer, which made him enraged. This demonstrates Oedipus’ figurative blindness to the truth. Compared to the end of the story in which he injures out his own eyes to make himself blind. This is after he found out the truth. Overall the knowledge of what had actually happened and the pursuit of this investigation is what led to the downfall of Oedipus.

In conclusion, Oedipus is a tragic hero that has redeeming qualities as well as several flaws. Throughout the story he becomes a part of an investigation to find out who was the murderer of Laius. Throughout the investigation, Oedipus had to confront his past and his actions to find the truth. In pursuit of this information he finds out that he himself was the real murderer. The realization of this information resulted in Jocasta committing suicide and Oedipus making himself blind. From someone who arguably had everything at the beginning of the story, is now left with nothing.