Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

Ancient Athens of the fifth century B.C saw evolutionary developments in philosophy, science and the dramatic arts of which provided citizens a very different perspective of life as it was. It was a patriarchal society which has been ruled by an Aristocratic system for hundreds of years that centred their ideals and beliefs not on individualism, but utterly the power of the gods. However in the Golden Age society’s devotion towards piety began to crumble as humanity started to examine the power of man’s achievements. This unorthodox movement was led by the Sophists .It was thus, the role of dominant Greek powers to re-establish the traditional pious values of society. As a conservative with high status, Sophocles wrote with the intention to reinforce these dominant conservative values, his renowned play Oedipus Rex (c. 429BC). The ancient play tells the story of a man whose destiny was scarred by an impious act committed by his parents. In the attempt to escape his cursed fate he inevitably fulfils it. Sophocles has intentionally manipulated features of tragedy in this story to address the questionable nature of society at the time by ultimately emphasising the horrendous consequences seen through Oedipus. These tragic events in the play will help answer the prominent philosophical questions of fate and free will, reaffirm the power of the gods and functions of conservative Athenian society.

Fate and free will became elusive concepts in the Golden Age which conservative society would have understood lucidly, which was everything was predestined by the gods. However this sophistic movement presented ideas which challenged this pious belief. Sophocles has ingeniously countered this sophistic idea of fate in this play by narrowi...

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...u saw her cross the threshold// In desperate passion… fastening her fingers in her hair.” Women were seen as emotionally weak and irrational individuals. On the other end of the spectrum Oedipus, resonating the qualities of a man, decided to accept his tragic state over the choice of death, making him heroic and admirable. The daughters of Oedipus were also highly disempowered, in that they were portrayed as incompetent and delicate beings who are unable to deal with their handed fate “I think of your sorrowful life in the days to come…”.

While Oedipus represented many sophistic ideals through free will and individualism, Sophocles has reinforced through features of tragedy that it was ultimately the power of the gods and his cursed fate, the conservative philosophy and belief that overruled all the sophistic qualities which audiences may have admired in Oedipus.