Oedipus Guilt

584 Words2 Pages

In Sophocles’ play “Oedipus Rex,” the title character embarks on a quest to solve a king’s murder and simultaneously stop a plague. In this endeavor, he shows the common human trait of avoiding blame while shifting it unto others. Oedipus believes that if he tries hard enough, he can change that which is already set in stone. Consequently, the more truth he discovers, the more he tries to rid himself of it. Through Oedipus’s ridiculous denial and avoidance of the truth, Sophocles emphasizes the commonality of assigning blame while also avoiding responsibility. Oedipus, upon ascending to the throne of Thebes, is faced with the daunting task of unraveling the mystery surrounding the murder of King Laius. He vows to discover the truth, unaware …show more content…

This reaction to limit one’s own responsibility is a notion ingrained in the human psyche and gets more and more ridiculous in Oedipus the longer the story goes on. As Oedipus delves deeper into the investigation, he unwittingly begins to uncover unsettling truths about his own identity. Despite mounting evidence pointing to his own guilt, he adamantly refuses to acknowledge the possibility of his involvement in the heinous crime. Instead, he becomes fixated on finding a scapegoat onto whom he can shift the blame, such as Creon, exemplifying the innate human tendency to avoid accountability at all costs. The further along the story is, the more obvious it becomes that Oedipus is the culprit, especially after it is directly said by one character. After the truth has been revealed, Oedipus absurdly shies away from the truth he has been seeking for most of the play. Oedipus's desperate and useless attempts to distance himself from the truth only serve to accelerate his downfall, illustrating the futility of denying one's own culpability in the face of overwhelming

Open Document