Similarities Between Oedipus And Minority Report

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth” (Buddha). The power and importance of the truth are that it will always be discovered. In Oedipus and Minority Report people think the truth is necessary to solve their problems. However, when the truth is revealed the outcome damages the character. In the play and film, the characters feel as if they cannot live without knowing the truth.

Characters will not stop searching for the truth until they discover it. Oedipus, the strong and powerful leader of Thebes is determined to end the plague and find out who killed Laius. In search of the truth Oedipus asks, “Does any man among you know who killed Laius son of Labdacus?” (Roche 14). Oedipus is eager to find out who

did it, and threatened many severe punishments until someone will confess. After talking to several sources Oedipus continues to look for answers and he persists until he gets the answers he’s looking for. Oedipus was very determined and never looked back until he was enlightened with the truth. When Oedipus comes to realize that he was the one who killed his father he is in shock, “I killed him. I killed them all” (Roche 45). In the end, Oedipus finally comes out of his darkness and sees the truth in what he did. Oedipus went from leading the town of Thebes, to losing his daughters, his ability to rule, and finally stabbing his eyes out until he couldn’t see. The truth is very powerful and though the characters have the desire to uncover it, they may not always like to face it, “When all that’s sweet has parted from my vision” (Roche 73). Oedipus had no idea the truth he so desperately wanted would hurt him.

Another moment in Oedipus where the truth damages him, is when he figures out that his parents intentionally gave him away. “She, she gave it to you?” (Roche 66). Oedipus had no idea that he was left on a hill and his father handed him to a Shepherd to take the baby somewhere far away. Oedipus is heartbroken and devastated by this shocking information. Similar to Oedipus, the main character John in Minority Report obsessively searches for the truth. When the pre-cogs identify John’s fate, he is obsessed with finding out who he would kill and why. He cannot resist going to room 1006, finding Leo Crow and finding out the truth about who took his son. John without evaluating risks went right in and did whatever it took to get all of the information out of Leo Crow. John thinks he found the killer of his son, but really is being set up. He is devastated and cannot believe the information. Another instance in Minority Report where the truth resulted in long term damage is when the main pre-cog Agatha was unrightfully used. She had a Mom by the name of Ann Lively, who was in rehab. Lamar (the pre-crime creator) took Agatha to be the main source of “power” for precrime. Lamar had promised Agatha’s mother that she could have her

daughter back after rehab, but he changed his mind and was unable to fulfill that promise. Agatha keeps having the same vision and John is curious to find out what it is. Lara, John’s wife figures out that Lamar killed Ann Lively, and Agatha couldn’t see the truth at first. Everyone wanted to know what happened, and when the truth was discovered the whole precrime operation crashed damaging a system people believed in. Yet, Agatha was astonished and couldn’t believe Lamar really killed her mother.
Frequently, in society, people cannot face the truth, after they have worked so hard to find it. The reactions and results that occur in the long run can be terrifying, when people uncover the information they have endlessly been searching for. In Oedipus he obsessively looks for the truth about who killed Laius. When the information is presented to him, he is in shock and doesn’t believe the truth. Oedipus meets Tiresias and asks him to speak everything that he knows, “I say, the murderer of the man whose murder you pursue is you” (Roche 21). Tiresias was trying to do him a favor and save him from learning who really killed Laius. Oedipus then becomes in denial and goes off ranting about how Tiresias is blind and truly cannot see anything. Towards the end of the book, when Oedipus orders the Shepherd to tell the truth. The Shepherd finally admits what truly happened, “To escape a prophecy to horrible”. Again Oedipus reacts horribly to the information and the audience understands why this truth was kept from him all along. It’s hard to comprehend information that he killed his father and married his mother. In Minority Report the main character John is determined to find out his fate. A wise man at the front desk says “Dig up the past and all you get is dirty” (Spielberg). If John discovered the truth immediately he would not have been able to handle it. The pre-cogs feared John finding out the truth because they knew he wouldn’t be able to handle it. In reality, the precogs were right and John couldn’t handle the truth when it was finally revealed to him.
The truth is very important and no matter how it is covered up it is always revealed. People persevere through all road-blocks until the truth is uncovered. Out of human nature, people often times hide the truth because of fear, characters will do anything to discover the truth no matter how good or bad it is, and finding out the truth damages people and is hard to understand. The importance and power of the truth impacts many people in various different ways. While these are dramatic and intense circumstance, it represents more simple situations.