BY AFOLABI FARAMADE
Sophocles' Oedipus Rex is regarded as the masterpiece of ancient Greek tragedy.In the play,an oracle foretold that the child born to Laius,King of Thebes by his wife,Queen Jocasta would slay his father and marry his mother.As soon as the child was born,the infant's feet were fastened together and was left to die on Mount Cithaeron. However,a shepherd rescued the child ,named him Oedipus or "swollen feet"as his feet had been tightly bound by Laius and took him to his master,Polybus, the King of Corinth who was childless. Polybus adopted the child and the boy grew up believing that he was indeed the King's son.
Afterwards,doubting his parentage ,he consulted the oracle at Delphi and learnt of the earlier prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother.Desperate to avoid this terrible fate,he fled from Corinth and during his flight to Thebes,he encountered and unwittingly killed his real father,Laius unaware of each other's true identities thereby fulfilling the earlier prophecy that Laius would be slain by his own son.It should be noted that Oedipus' pride and anger made him to murder Laius.
Arriving at Thebes,he solved the riddle of the Sphinx and the grateful Thebans rewarded him by making him their king.Upon ascending the throne,he married the widowed queen,Jocasta and they had two children together.Thus,unknown to all of the characters,the prophecy was fulfilled. However,a grievous plague afflicted the city and the people .Oedipus sent Creon,the queen's brother, to Delphi to consult the oracle of Apollo.It was revealed that the cause was pollution of the land since the murderer of their former king,Laius,had never been caught or brought to justice.Oedipus vowed to find the murderer and cursed him for the plague that he had caused.
The blind prophet,Tiresias,was summoned for help.When Tiresias arrived,he claimed to know the answers to Oedipus' questions but he refused to speak.He advised Oedipus to abandon the search because the truth would bring pain. Oedipus displayed his characteristic anger and rage due to Tiresias refusal and verbally accused him of complicity in Laius' murder. Provoked by this hasty accusation,Tiresias revealed that Oedipus himself was the murderer and the cause of pollution in Thebes.Oedipus could not understand how this could be and concluded that the prophet was in a conspiracy with Creon to undermine him. At this point,Oedipus ordered that Creon be executed,convinced that he was plotting against him to take over the throne.Creon denied the accusation,saying he was not interested in becoming the king because of the responsibilities that come with being the king.It was after the intervention of Jocasta and the Chorus of Theban Elders that Oedipus was pacified.Meanwhile, both Oedipus and Tiresias argued vehemently as Oedipus mocked Tiresias' lack of sight and Tiresias replied that it was Oedipus himself that was blind.
Queen Jocasta urged Oedipus to ignore the prophets and oracles because many years ago,she and Laius received a prophecy which never came through.This prophecy said that Laius would be killed by his own son,but as everyone knew,Laius was actually killed by bandits at a crossroads on the way to Delphi. The mention of crossroads rattled Oedipus and suddenly became worried that Tiresias' revelation might actually be true .
When a messenger from Corinth brought the news of the death of King Polybus, Oedipus shocked everyone with his apparent happiness at the news ,as he regarded it as proof that could never kill his father.However,he still feared that he might somehow commit incest with his mother.The messenger,eager to ease the tension in Oedipus mind, advised him not to worry because Queen Merope of Corinth was not in fact his real mother .The messenger turned out to be the very shepherd who had looked after the abandoned child which he later took to Corinth and gave to King Polybus for adoption.He was also the very same shepherd who witnessed the murder of Laius.By now,Jocasta was beginning to realize the truth and desperately begged Oedipus to stop asking further questions.The shepherd did not want to say anything more,but Oedipus pressed him threatening him with torture or execution until it finally emerged that the child he gave away to King Polybus was Laius' own son.
With the truth finally revealed,Oedipus cursed himself and his tragic destiny as the Chorus of Theban Elders lamented how even a great man cold be felled by fate. Jocasta hanged herself;while Oedipus in final despair took the two long gold brooches from Jocasta's dress and plunged them into his own eyes.Now blind,Oedipus begged to be be exiled and requested Creon to look after his two daughters,Antigone and Ismene.The play ended as the Chorus wailed:"Count no man happy till he dies free of pain at last. "
While it can be argued that despite his best efforts to avert the prophecy surrounding his destiny, Oedipus also contributed to the tragedy. He has certain negative traits or tragic flaw in his own character often referred to as "hamartia" in Greek tragedy. Closely connected with the prophecy concerning him is Oedipus' personality for which he is somewhat more responsible. He suffers from a character flaw known as hubris or pride.He kills his real father, Laius in a moment of anger due to his pride .He has hot temper and is easily provoked. Three episodes in the play attest to this.First,when Creon returned from Delphi where he had gone to consult the oracle concerning the plague ravaging Thebes on the instruction of the king, Oedipus turned round to accuse him of conspiracy against him and demanded his execution.Although Creon was spared,the accusation against him was based on false suspicion. Secondly,when Tiresias,the blind seer, refused to disclose the murderer of Laius initially to avoid hurting the king, Oedipus accused him of complicity in the murder.After Tiresias revealed that Oedipus was the culprit,he dismissed it as nonsense and accused the prophet of being corrupted by Creon in an attempt to undermine him and usurp the throne. The third episode was the encounter between Oedipus and the shepherd from Corinth who confirmed that the child he gave to Polybus for adoption was Laius son.From the harsh treatment of Tiresias and Creon,it is obvious that Oedipus' character flaw contibuted significantly to his tragic downfall.
Oedipus is placed upon a tragic journey of self-discovery even before his birth, but he still makes choices along the way. After he is grown, solves the riddle of the sphinx, and marries Jocasta, he becomes king. To end the plague on their city, he tries to find out who killed Laius, her first husband, as his unavenged death is apparently causing the plague.
The blind prophet Teiresias, after some hesitation, tells Oedipus that he himself was the murderer. He reveals this information only after Oedipus berates him and says he must be the killer. The new information, of course, does not please him. He continues to belittle Teiresias, as well as boasting about his own contributions. He accuses the prophet of colluding with Creon, the queen’s brother. This exchange shows Oedipus’ bad qualities: vanity, arrogance, suspicion, and impatience.
His next step seems to go in the same direction. Oedipus goes to Creon with the accusation of conspiracy, and attempts to banish him if he wants to live. When Jocasta interrupts them, Creon takes his leave. As the outcome of the prophecy is revealed, Jocasta cannot endure what she has done, and kills herself. Oedipus decides to live, but blinds himself with her dress pins. Hearing all this terrible news, Creon returns—he had not actually left Thebes yet. In the final scene, the tables are turned. Oedipus goes into exiled at his own request. With his remorse and actions, the audience sees evidence of his nobility. His good qualities are confirmed when he entrusts his daughters’ care to Creon.
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