Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

Sophocles

The study of Oedipus Rex have opened my mind about understanding a real tragedy play. Oedipus The King or Oedipus Rex is an Athenian tragedy written by Sophocles. Oedipus gets his name through a complex pun. Oedipus also means “swollen foot” or “clubfoot” pointing to the injury sustained in the title character’s infancy when his ankles were restrained together like a goat's.

The play begins with a King (Oedipus Rex) talking to his people and his priest about the plague in Thebes and that is when he came to know about the murder of Laios, the previous king before him from Creon. Oedipus wants to know about the truth very much and so he summons for the famous Teiresias, who is blind but can see the future. Teiresias hints Oedipus that he himself is the murderer but Oedipus is ignorance. In the end of the story, Oedipus finds out the truth. The prophecies that are cast upon him have came truth.

The prophecies:
1. Oedipus will kill his father.
2. Oedipus will marry his own birth mother.
3. Oedipus will have children from his own mother’s womb.

Locaste, both Oedipus’s mother and wife, kills herself. He cannot continue seeing his wrong doings so he blinds himself and becomes a beggar.

The truth of the ending of the story is a tragedy. That is when the 'Fate' issue comes in. Oedipus faces a reversal of fortune and ends up being a beggar. We can never escape on our fate that is fixed for us. How do I feel for Oedipus? I pity him. He does not kill his father or marry his own mother intentionly. Everything is fated. That is when he says:

"It was my fate to defile my mother's bed,

to bring forth to men a human family

that people could not bear to look upon,

to murder the father who engendered me."

King Oedipus is known as the famous King who solves a famous riddle that also brings him to the dead end and blinds himself.

"This is the king who solved the famous riddle

and towered up, most powerful man.

No mortal eyes but looked on him with envy,

yet in the end ruin swept over him."

I have always believed in fate. I believe everything we get and face in our lives are fated. In the play, we can see how powerful the word 'FATE' is. When your fate is there, We have no where to hide. Challenging the God's power and plan is useless. We can never avoid the fate that is set upon us, "You can run, but you cannot hide". But I personally believe that Fate can be changed. There are certain things we can changed. I am not saying that you can avoid fate. What I mean is that some things are meant to be changed if we try harder. For example, if we keep getting low marks in exam, we cannot blame entire at our fate right? nor luck. We should blame ourselves for not studying harder. Therefore, we can change our fate by studying harder, not baliming entirely at our fates.

Don't you agree?