Oedipus Rex Tragedy Analysis

When starting to read Oedipus Rex, one might think that one will be reading about a happy event or family due to the circumstances of Sophocles’ life. Sophocles, the author, had a happy life with a well-to-do family. He was also a distinguished public official, and he had so many winnings of first place in an annual dramatic competition. “Oedipus Rex, however, is a tragedy.” In tragedies the protagonist has a downfall, due to self failure, and circumstances with which he or she can’t deal with.(Albert et al. 301.) With the thought of the protagonist of a tragedy always having a downfall, one can say that their fate is inescapable. In Oedipus Rex there are various symbols that help illustrate the theme, that a person’s fate will eventually happen.

When Oedipus starts looking for the killer, he has a conversation with Teiresias that states, “ I say that you are the murderer whom you see”. (1. 347) Oedipus replies, “Now twice you have spat out infamy. You’ll pay for it!” ( 1. 348). Oedipus is denying what he is being accused of because he never knew the king, and never had a relationship with his father. This shows that he is blind because not knowing that Laius was his father and the king, he still fulfilled part of the prophecy. Further on into the play, Oedipus states, “ How could I bear to see, when all my sight was horror everywhere?” ( Exodus.1289-1290). After Oedipus is informed with the full truth and finally having knowledge or complete sight of what is going on, he decides to take his punishment into his own hands, by blinding himself. He does this because he didn’t want to see or deal with the horrible truth (his fate) , of him actually being his father’s killer, his wife being his mother, and grandmother/ mother to his children. This happened because he tried to ignore the prophecy that was told to him, and that caused him to flee from where he was at. When he fled, he sped up the process of his own horrible