Is Oedipus Innocent

238 Words1 Page

Is Oedipus Innocent?
Oedipus is the king of Thebes. He solved the riddle of this sphinx and save the city from destruction. Oedipus is a loyal, honest and brave man. He always wanted the best for his people. Oedipus killed his father and married his mother. No Oedipus is not guilty for killing his father and marrying his mother because he did not know the truth, the future was determined by fate and he was blinded by his own Pride.
Oedipus is innocent because he did not know the truth. He did not know his true parents. He was living his whole life a lie. When the messenger told him about the prophecy that he was going to kill his father and marry his mother. He left Corinth to avoid the prophecy.
It was fate that did this, it wasn't oedipus's

Show More
Related

  • Theme Of Honor In Oedipus Rex

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oedipus Rex is a Greek play written by Sophocles. The play is set in Thebes; Thebes is infected with a plague that is killing its crops and unborn children. This plague is caused by the prophecy. The prophecy states that Oedipus would kill his father and wed his mother. Laius threw out Oedipus when he was a baby to avoid this fate, but he failed because Oedipus was not killed. Oedipus was raised as a prince in Corinth. One day he was told the prophecy and feared that he would kill his father Polybus. While running away from Corinth to escape the prophecy, Oedipus killed Laius. When Oedipus arrived in Thebes, he freed the people from the sphinx. He was named king and married Jocasta. Towards the end of the play, Oedipus finds out that he had fulfilled the prophecy and is exiled from Thebes.

    Read More

  • The Selfishness of Oedipus in Oedipus the King

    967 Words  | 2 Pages

    The selfishness that Oedipus possesses causes him to have abundance of ignorance. This combination is what leads to his father’s death. After fleeing Corinth and his foster family, Oedipus gets into a skirmish with an older man. The reason for the fight was because, “The groom leading the horses forced me off the road at his lord’s command” (1336). Oedipus is filled with a rage after being insulted by the lord and feels the need to act. The two men fight, but Oedipus ends up being too much for the older man, and he kills him. What Oedipus is unaware of is that the man was actually his birth father and by killing him, Oedipus has started on the path of his own destruction. Not only does Oedipus kill his father, but also everyone else, “I killed them all” (1336). The other men had no part in the scuffle, but in his rage, he did not care who he was killing.

    Read More

  • Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles

    444 Words  | 1 Pages

    He murders his father and marries his mother unknowingly. While it may seem to some that Oedipus was destined to carry out his fate, it is also true that Oedipus’ personality led him to his fate. It is clear to see that Oedipus is an impulsive and passionate man, which causes Oedipus to fulfill the prophecy that haunts him. He flees the kingdom of Corinthian in order to avoid his fate. Along his journey he comes to a crossroad that is blocked by a chariot, and “in a fit of anger” Oedipus kills the father he never knew (Meyer 1422).

    Read More

  • Oedipus Tyrannus: Innocent

    753 Words  | 2 Pages

    -not knowing it was his biological father- could not be avoided, his ignorance in a certain way absolves him of all blame. As for the "incest" matter, Oedipus is certainly not guilty of such a thing for it was Jocasta who promised to marry him in the first place, we can blame Jocasta for the downfall as much as we can blame Oedipus for it. Oedipus is certainly not guilty of anything.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: A Painful Path to Truth

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oedipus goes on with his journey not knowing about what he is going to do next. Oedipus runs into some people at a crossing on this journey and quarrels with them to there death. After this, he goes along to a city named Thebes where he outsmarted a beast that was cursing the city. He received praise and joy. While gaining the trust of all that lived there he quickly became King of Thebes. The people loved him because he was such a great leader. He was such a great king because he had a lot of love for his people and would do anything in his power to make them happy. As a result of this, Oedipus finds out that the city is in trouble unless the killer of their late king is found and punished. Little does Oedipus know that he is the killer of their late King or that the King was actually his father. Oedipus will strive for awnsers even though he has been warned not to dig to deep, for he will regret it.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: Not Guilty of Any Crime

    517 Words  | 2 Pages

    Since Oedipus had no knowledge of his birth parents, he cannot be accused of knowingly fulfilling the prophecy. He had no understanding of Laius as his birth father upon killing him. One might say that Oedipus is then guilty of murder regardless, but if he had killed in self defense, that cannot be true. Likewise, if Oedipus had no understanding of Jocasta as his birth mother, then he cannot be guilty of incest. Neither can he be guilty of defiling Laius’s marriage bed, as he did not know that Jocasta was the wife of the man he had murdered.

    Read More

  • Justice in Oedipus the King

    459 Words  | 1 Pages

    of a mother-son marriage.   Greek law considers the act, not the motive. meaning that even though she nor Oedipus knew they were related, they committed. the crime of the.. & nbsp;      Finally, Oedipus's guilt.  In some ways, Oedipus was the most guilty of them all.  Consider his 'hubris'.  He regarded himself as almost a god, assuming. that since he alone had solved the sphinx's riddle, he was the one of the gods. favorites.  He was very quick to judge, and judged on the most flimsy of evidence.  He calls on Tiresias to tell him what he should do, and when he. doesn't like what he hears, Oedipus says, "Your words are nothing - futile".

    Read More

  • Compare Hamlet And Oedipus

    1275 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oedipus is the son of the king and queen of Thebes. A prophet tells the king and queen that his son will kill him. This causes the king and queen to become worried of the possibilities so they decide to kill their son in order to prevent the predictions of the prophet from becoming true. However, Oedipus did not die and instead was rescued and eventually adopted. As time progresses Oedipus is told that he will kill his father and this frightens Oedipus so he decides to get as far as possible from his parents. During Oedipus’s journey he stumbles upon his biological father and he was unable to control his anger so he killed his father. As time goes on he eventually marries the queen of Thebes also known as his mom. He found out that her husband was killed a long time ago so Oedipus decided to investigate. A prophet tells Oedipus that he was the one that killed the king who was his father. Oedipus is angered and is told to stop trying to solve the mystery. Oedipus eventually discovers that what the prophet told him was true and is angered. He eventually meets his end. In this case Oedipus’s biggest flaw is his anger. His anger eventually causes him to face defeat. “Who would not feel his temper rise at words like these with which you shame our city” (Sophocles 1572). The quote comes directly from a conversation he was having with the prophet that told him he was

    Read More

  • Comparing Othello and Oedipus the King

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sophocles wrote the play, Oedipus the King. Oedipus the King was written around 420 BC, has been noted as the most powerful expression of Greek tragic drama (Hyesso). Oedipus, who was a stranger to Thebes, became king of the city after the murder of the city’s king, Laius, about fifteen or sixteen years before the start of the play. He was offered the throne because he was successful in saving the city from the Sphinx, an event referred to repeatedly in the text of the play. He did so by solving a riddle in which killed the Sphinx. He married Laius’ widow, Jocasta, and had four children with her. When Oedipus was born, there was a prophecy that said Oedipus was destined to kill his father and marry his mother. In order to prevent this, his parents pierced and bind Oedipus’s ankles and abandoned him in the mountain. They believe that Oedipus’s fate was in the God’s hands. When Oedipus grew up, he heard about this prophecy, and decided to flea town in order to avoid the possible outcome. What he did not know was that the parents who raised him, had ...

    Read More

  • tragoed Comparing Tragedy in Hamlet and Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex)

    624 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oedipus is the main character in the play Oedipus the King. Oedipus is thought of as a tragic figure because he was doomed from birth. Tiresias, an old blind prophet, told Oedipus' parents about Oedipus' fate. He told them that Oedipus would kill his father and sleep with his mother. So, his parents decided to have him killed, only it did not happen that way. He was passed off by two shepherds and finally to the King and Queen of Corinth, Polybus and Merope to raise him as their own. Oedipus finds his way back to Thebes and on the way kills his father, but Oedipus did not know that one of the men he killed was his real father. This is the beginning of the prophecy coming true. In short Oedipus obtains the throne, Marries his mother and has kids with her. Oedipus' fate has come together without him even realizing what is going on. Eventually he is told what has happened and asks to be banished by his uncle/brother-in-law Creon. The tragedy in Oedipus' life began with his birth and the realization by his parents that his whole life was doomed.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: The Guilt of Oedipus

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oedipus is guilty because, despite knowing the prophecy that he will commit parricide and incest, he yet kills an elderly gentleman and sleeps with an elderly women. The choice was his, and this accounts for his guilt.

    Read More

  • Oedipus: A Victim of Fate

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oedipus was a victime of fate, his futur was foretold by an Oracle, he had no way of knowing that his wife was his mother nor that the stranger he killed was his father. Oedipus could not prevent his own downfall. Oedipus was the king of Thebes, he became king when he cured the city of a deadly plague. He cured the plague by solving the riddle of the mythical creature, the Sphinkx. Now the city is suffering from another plague and as king Oedipus must solve the riddle of this one.

    Read More

  • Knowledge as a Destructive Force: The Case of Oedipus

    533 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oedipus, king of Thebes, had a knowledge gain that led to his own self destruction, primarily the discovery that he was the subject of a prophecy that foresaw him killing his father and marrying his mother, the lovely Jocasta. The killing of Oedipus’ father- and the previous king- drove the city to become enveloped by famine and plague. The citizens and royals believed that the only way to fix the plague was by exiling the murderer- Oedipus. Oedipus was happy with his

    Read More

  • Morality In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

    1507 Words  | 4 Pages

    Born to King Laius and Queen Jocasta in the city of Thebes, Oedipus is surrounded with controversy after a prophecy shows that Oedipus will be destined to murder his father and marry his mother. Fearing the potential consequences of the prophecy, Oedipus’ parents made the decision to abandon their baby at the top of a mountain to die using one of their servants. The servant’s consciousness, however, causes him to instead deliver the baby to a shepherd, who in turn sends him to King Polybius and Queen Merope of the kingdom Corinth. After raising the child as their own, Oedipus becomes suspicious that these weren’t his biological parents and leaves Corinth upon hearing the prophecy by the oracle Delphi. As he unknowingly travels to his birth city, Thebes, Oedipus murdered a man along with his servants after a dispute between them. Before entering Thebes, Oedipus is confronted by the guardian of the city’s Gates, the Sphinx who presents him with a riddle. If he solves the riddle, he will be able to pass. If he doesn’t, he’ll die. Oedipus’s superior intelligence and cleverness allows him to easily solve the riddle, however unbeknownst to him will be a foreshadowing of his tragic downfall. The citizens of Thebes praise Oedipus and Queen Jocasta offers to marry him since her husband was mysteriously murdered. Upon marry Jocasta and becoming the King of Thebes, a powerful plague decimates the citizens of

    Read More

  • What Is Oedipus Accused

    397 Words  | 1 Pages

    King Oedipus son of Laius his father has been found guilty of the crime of murder and incest by his own conscious decisions. His punishment is banishment. It was the lack of evidence that proved to his honor that there was reasonable doubt in the guilt of Oedipus. The defenses case was not strong enough to prove that Oedipus was innocent. The prosecution brought many people to the stand that weakened the case of the defense. They called the only survivor of the attack of Laius and his men, he said that there was clearly no need to kill the king Oedipus could have controlled the situation without having to kill anyone of the men, but as the man said Oedipus lost control and his temper and killed his King and his comrades. This just shows that

    Read More

More about Is Oedipus Innocent

Open Document