Who Is The Protagonist In Oedipus The King

Carl Jung and Oedipus Rex

In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, the tragic hero, Oedipus, tries to run from his fate and has a quarrel with other travelers and kills them and goes on his way. He ends up in Thebes, where he saves the city from the Riddle of the Sphinx, which was only one of their problems. The other problem was the plague that scared and frightened the city. Now, in order to stop the plague that terrors the citizens of Thebes he must rid the city of the murderer of the preceding king. So he immediately investigates the murder of the previous ruler of Thebes, King Laius, only to reveal ironically what the audience already knows, that he is the murderer he is looking for. Assuming the audience's knowledge of the investigation's result, it is what the progression of the investigation unveils about the character of Oedipus, as well as the anagnorisis and transformation Oedipus goes through, that manifests the meaning of the play. The process of the investigation reveals an inclination to archetypal "male traits" and a lack of an adequately developed anima. Carl Jung helps give an explanation on how Oedipus eventually balances his anima in the final moments of the play.

Oedipus has an overbearing amount of male traits but some were positive and unfortunately but normally some were negative. Oedipus is logical, assertive, initiative, independent, aggressive and competitive. These are common male traits and Oedipus evinces these characteristics boldly. When Oedipus starts searching for the murderer he thinks logically and asks the perfect questions and nothing more. He asks, "Where did Laius meet his death?"(8) Creon tells him, "He left Thebes to consult an oracle... but never returned"(8). So he asks another question: " No messenger came back?"(8) Creon responds and says that they all were killed except for one. These questions receive precise and get to the point answers. He is also the one who initiates the whole search and he also initiates the fight between him, Tiresias, and Creon. It's also not enough that he was competing with the plague that was wiping out his people, but he also had to make a competition for his throne with Creon who only wanted to help him. More so, Creon didn't even want to be king because he says, " do you think anyone would prefer to be supreme ruler and live in fear rather than sleep soundly at night and still have the same power as the king?"(40). Here, Creon is making it clear to Oedipus and is telling him, why would he want to take on the responsibility of a king when he could have everything except for that. When the chorus leader suggests to Oedipus to send for Tiresias he replies, " I have sent for him twice, in fact, and have been wondering for some time why he is not yet here"(17). Since he sent for him twice it shows how he is aggressive because he could not be patient and he sent for him twice before he got any response. Another time Oedipus reveals his aggressiveness is when he was screaming at Creon for being a traitor before he could even say anything and when he is repeatedly demanding Tiresias to tell him who the murderer is he won't say but he finally does and Oedipus is extremely angry at him because Tiresias called him the murderer. Moreover we perceive Oedipus to have a surplus of male traits.

A flaw in which Oedipus has is that he does not have a developed anima and this is one thing that helps him reach his downfall. Some female traits that he is lacking of are sensitivity, intuitiveness, and connection. Oedipus is not sensitive to the fact that when Jocasta is begging for him to stop searching she says, "It is good advice I am giving you- I am thinking of you"(78). Oedipus's problem is that he is supercilious and arrogant and is not being sensitive and thinking about how the knowledge of his birth could affect her. He is not thinking everything through; he is like a cowboy, shoot first and asks questions later which is not always the best. Oedipus thinks he has a connection with the gods and he thinks he is spiritually greater then everyone but, he really doesn't. He really doesn't because if he believed in the gods and was so spiritual he would not have ran from his fate because this is like saying that he does not believe in the prophecy and so forth, the gods. So, he really does not have a true and real connection deep inside him even though he thinks he does. Before Oedipus was going to kill the other travelers on the road he was not intuitive because if he were he would not kill anyone his whole entire life to avoid his fate, but since he used only his mind and was being rational and using common sense, he thought he left his father behind and knew his father's face, so he could not have possibly killed him. Through anagnorisis Oedipus noticed this flaw and finally balanced his anima.

During the last scene of the play, Oedipus realized the whole truth and because he has the self-realization, " He ripped out the golden pins with which her clothes were fastened, raised them high above his head, and speared the pupils of his eyes." (93). Carl Jung believes through this action Oedipus balanced his anima. Jung thinks this because since, Oedipus blinded himself with a pin from a female cloth it symbolizes him shoving female traits into his body physically and mentally. Since, he blinded himself he can not be independent and must be co-dependant because he always will need someone to guide him. Oedipus had to sacrifice his authority and control to balance his anima and we see that he did this when Creon tells him to go inside the palace and he replies, "I will go..."(106). He has no choice but to listen to Creon because he will need Creon to help him. Creon also says to him, "What you once won and held did not stay with you all your life long."(107). He is saying to Oedipus that he is not the leader, king, ruler, and controller of the land and that he is taking his place. Towards the end of the play, he manifested his connection and care for his children. He sympathized for them because his connection between them is not only father and child but, also brother and sibling. He cares for them so much he tells Creon, "You are the only father they have now, for we who brought them into the world are both of us destroyed. Do not abandon them to wander husbandless in poverty"(105). (Oedipus pleaded) Also, he is now in harmony, even though his truth was not great he is now peaceful and calm inside.

Carl Jung also explains the notion that we must integrate both "male" and "female" in order to individuate and become a whole. Oedipus had an overwhelming amount of male traits and a lacking of female traits. Since he has an overpowering amount of each male trait he makes more problems unconsciously to use the traits. For example, he made a competition for his kingship with Creon only to manifest his competitiveness. Jung explicates that if you have to much of one thing then it becomes negative. According to Jung Oedipus had to acquire some female traits to balance his anima but, he never did do it until he could not turn back. Aristotle would explain that his unbalanced anima was his hamartia and what caused his perepetia. During his anagnorisis he gains female traits and loses male traits and the play ends when Oedipus finally becomes whole by amalgamating male and female traits in him.