Essay On Oedipus The King

Justin Kim

1C-2

Oedipus: the Perfect Example of Freudian Psychology

In “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles, Oedipus, the king of Thebes finds out that he kills his father and that his wife is his mother. Oedipus is very concerned for his kingdom and his people. He wants to “drive the corruption from the land” (Sophocles 109) by finding Laius’s murderer and killing him. Through his curiosity, Oedipus finds out that the man he kills long ago is Laius, who is his father, and that his wife is his mother—all in accordance with Oedipus’ prophecy. After coming on this realization as well, Jocasta, Oedipus’ wife, commits suicide, and Oedipus gouges out his eyes as a result of this. In his search for the murderer, Oedipus strives to be a fair king. Ironically, he often is not fair to the people he sees or things that are essential to him. This play demonstrates the theme of justice through Oedipus’ denial of justice in three situations—Oedipus’ meeting with Tiresias, Oedipus’ gouging out of his eyes, and Creon’s asking of Oedipus to adjudicate fairly

The theme of justice is evident during Oedipus’ meeting with Tiresias. Oedipus brings over Tiresias, the renowned prophet to tell him who the Laius’ murderer is. Tiresias, at first, tries to hide the answer, but through Oedipus’ pressing, Tiresias is forced to reveal that Oedipus kills Laius a long time ago and is the source of “the corruption of the land (178).” Oedipus, enraged at the answer, tells Tiresias that he should be ashamed for cooking up such a story and asks Tiresias who told him to do this. Tiresias responds, “You did, you forced me, twisted it out of me (179).” The most rudimentary definition of justice is fairness, and back in Ancient Greece prophets’ words were reg...

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...ied” show that Oedipus’ surmise is nothing more than a guess that is unable to be proven true, which conclusively proves Oedipus is not just to Creon because all the accusations against Creon are completely false.

In conclusion, Oedipus’ denial of justice especially to his eyes, Tiresias, and Creon, show that justice is an important theme in this book. Oedipus denies justice by not giving the full representation of the truth, and by hurting and blaming others for things he himself has done. By doing this, he fails to be the fair king he strives to be by trying to track down Laius’ murderer, and becomes the complete antithesis of what he wants to be. If Oedipus wants to be a just king to his people, then he should take the punishment meant for him—death—because it is fair that since he is the source of the corruption of the land, that he should die in return.