Pride Lead To Ignorance In Oedipus The King

Pride may lead to ignorance. Oedipus’s flaw, pride, causes him to believe that he can outwit his fate of murdering his father and marrying his mother. This pride of his leads to the outcome of meeting his fate which defeats the purpose of him starting his journey in order to avoid his dreaded destiny. Oedipus Rex can be interpreted as a fable, a short tale to teach a moral lesson, with a tint of Greek culture. Oedipus is born into a dysfunctional family because of a prophecy that states that their son will kill the father and marry the mother. To prevent this the king orders Oedipus to be thrown in a lake to drown and hands the task over to one of his servants. Pity takes over the servants emotions causing him to leave the baby stranded on

In Corinth the shepherd gave Oedipus to the king and queen who unfortunately could not bear children of their own. Like any other child Oedipus grew up to be a young man and one day as he was drinking with a friend, his friend revealed that Oedipus was adopted. Tempted to find the truth Oedipus made his way to Delphi and visited the temple of Apollo in seek of an oracle. To his surprise the oracle says none of which he wishes to hear; however, enlightens him with a prophecy that says that Oedipus will kill his father and marry his mother. In the article Oedipus Rex the Ideal Tragic Hero the author mentions “ Oedipus can see but one side of a matter--too often he sees that wrongly--and it is his fashion immediately to act upon such half-knowledge, at the dictates, not of his reason at all, but of his first feeling which happens to come uppermost” (Barstow 3). After being acknowledged with the horrible prophecy taken over by fear oedipus flees his home in order to avoid his fate. However, he flees right into his biological father and ends up murdering him. Now in Thebes, Oedipus comes across a sphinx which is killing all the men who cannot solve her