Quest For Truth In Sophocles Oedipus The King

In Sophocles, Oedipus the King, we find Oedipus in his quest for the truth. We find ourselves starting on a trail from the middle of Oedipus life, only to be catapulted to his birth, and then flung back to reality. Oedipus brings up truths that his wife Jocasta begs him to leave be. This journey as we look at the evidence we find their are characters and places that contain puzzles we will delve into, and try to explain Things start going awry for Oedipus while he is still living in Corinth with Polybus and Merope. He is told by a drunken party guest that Polybus is not his father. The guest said to him “denied...I was my father’s son”(783). Oedipus takes this accusation to Polybus and Merope and they become “enraged”(786), and call the words

Creon was the one who asked Tiresias to Thebes. To which Creon responds “And I still hold to the advice I gave”(562). Oedipus tries to question the authority of Tiresias, a seer, who came to the palace years ago and could not foresee Oedipus committing the murder. Creon stands by his decision in summoning Tiresias as it was Oedipus that ordered it. Oedipus is beside himself with rage and wants nothing less than death for Creon. Jocasta finds them arguing and Oedipus tells her what made him so angry. Creon “sent that vicious seer...”(708). Jocasta tells Oedipus to not worry that Laius was to be killed by their son and already “foreign robbers murdered him”(718-19). Their son had his ankles “yoked”(721) and was “cast” (721) on a “trackless mountain”(722). Upon hearing the news that Oedipus is not of Polybus and he is the baby who has his ankles tied, Jocasta retires to the palace and commits suicide. She has put all the pieces together and is beside herself with grief, despair, and anger. All the paths of evidence lead to the prophecy and that Oedipus is the killer, the father. and the son. Jocasta sees this result sooner and can no longer live with herself. Oedipus lives but can no longer see. He makes his life alone and