How Did Oedipus Kill Himself

Oedipus and the Truth

In Oedipus the King, Oedipus did not act alone, but acted with multiple perpetrators that all killed his father and the men there except the shepherd, which ignited the flame to Oedipus’s murky fate.

To begin with, Sophocles gave a very murky hint to the reader that Oedipus was not alone in killing his father Laius. Many critics have acted on this critical part of the tragedy because the riddle of the Sphinx was to have said only one man, Oedipus, was to kill his own father single handedly. In an online review of the book, JSTOR, has found a very intriguing quote to solidify that Oedipus was not alone when killing his father Laius, “The robbers they encountered were many and the hands of that did the murder were many;

it was no man’s single power” (Harshbarger, 1965, p. 120). This piece of evidence is mind boggling, due to the fact that how can Oedipus still have fulfilled the prophecy but did not commit the murder acted upon his father alone. But the website evidence found, written by Karl Harshbarger, could be interpreted that way because Oedipus was too stubborn to acknowledge what he had done alone and wanted to cover up the simple of the story. The evidence shows Sophocles portrayal of Oedipus’s, describing his determination to cover up his true fate, he is ashamed and in refusal to what is true but uses scapegoats to explain himself throughout the process of finding himself guilty of the prophecy.
Who might have been the other “hands of many” depicted in the story of when Oedipus and others murdered his father, not making solely Oedipus the one to kill his father.

The answer is, the chorus. The chorus was said to have been the other perpetrators that murdered Laius, and the one who figured this out was Harshbarger. They throw hints at the time Oedipus is starting to think logically that he is the murderer. They call Oedipus, “Greatest in all man’s eyes,” and later rebuke him when he gouges his eyes out saying, “This is a terrible sight for men to see!” (Hornby, 1989, p. 129) The evidence shows that they were thought to have been with Oedipus killed Laius and acted with Oedipus. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus was to have said, “Upon the murderer I invoke this curse, whether he is one man and all unknown - or one of many” (p.270). Even Oedipus believes that he did not act alone in slaughtering his father on the crossroads that he encountered him. He logically believes it was not him, nor was he alone at the time of his father's murder. In Harshbarger’s crackpot article, he reached the conclusion that discrepency between the two different perceptions of Oedipus the King, Thebans version and Oedipus perception, means that the chorus ultimately killed Laius. Some may argue that Harshbarger is looking at the perceived than the perception of Oedipus the King. Oedipus is free will lets him believe what his logical mind can think of when being told that he was the only one who

killed his father, and Sophocles manipulates his free will into turning himself in as the perpetrator who killed his father.
How do we know that Oedipus was not alone in killing his father. Because there was a witness who escaped the scene of the homicide. In Richard Hornby’s extensive overview of Oedipus the King, he finds that there are two stories of the tale. Oedipus, when trying to resolve the Sphinx, says to the people that many men killed his father Laius, and this may be true. Hornby (1989) states, “But when Laius was killed, one man escaped, who maintained that they had been attacked by many men, a band of robbers. Oedipus considers the point…” This is monumental because that one eyewitness can back Oedipus’s claim that they were many men involved in the murdering of his father Laius. Oedipus says, “You said that he spoke of highway robbers who killed Laius. Now if he uses the same number, it was not I who killed him. One man cannot be the same as many” (p. 242-47). Oedipus quickly manipulates the understanding of a witness who ran away from the scene, and his own accounts of the situation. It was a Corinthian messenger who brought hope to Oedipus’s statement that it was many men who killed his father. But what about the plague, after Oedipus gouges his eyes out, it stops? Why does Sophocles stop bringing it up after the opening scenes? This can just be what helps cure the plague. But also the possibility of many men killing Laius are unpersuasive possibilities to the plague that is still ongoing, until Oedipus gouges his eyes out. Sophocles once again uses the pride of Oedipus that is instilled in him to seek out the possibilities of him not fulfilling the prophecy, but seems to fail.
In conclusion, the killing of Laius is purely a mysteric question to the reader.

It is up to the reader to believe what they want, given the clues and evidence Sophocles provides. Even the Thebans, upon having their own interpretation, believe and pick out logical, and solid information concluding that there were many men who killed Laius. But Oedipus being Oedipus, takes that information and manipulates it to his advantage to show everyone that he is not the killer and that the prophecy is wrong and false. But once being told that he was adopted by a family, he soon inclines to the sheer reality that he is the only true murderer, which fulfills the prophecy. The chorus being brought up is all based on opinion by Harshbarger, as just like the Thebans coming to their conclusion that many men killed Laius, and that Oedipus was not alone in doing so at the scene. The killing of Laius is a opinion based perception that is significant to the whole story of Oedipus the King, because knowing that Oedipus alone kills his father shows that his fate was not his to live by nor a choice, but foreshadowed and forced upon Oedipus to live and suffer by, taking away his free will to live his own life. Killing his father determines his fate from that one moment

forward.