The Role Of Justice In Oedipus Rex

Last week, I had an opportunity to read Oedipus Rex, which was a fantastic play. Oedipus Rex presents different perspectives of a person’s life, and the impact they might have on his/her descendants. For example, Oedipus’s great grandparent committed a crime that affected Oedipus later on in his life. However, Oedipus isn’t even born when the crime take place. In addition, Oedipus Rex presents the notion of justice, which I agree with because I believe that justice is essential, and fair just, as it portrays in the play; however, I do think that justice can be unfair sometimes due to ones’ ulterior motives.

Justice portrays as essential in the play due to the pressure that lays upon finding the murder of Laius. For instance, Oedipus

is the one who initial the search for Laius’ murder, and he commands everyone in his country to come forward with anything he/she might find out about the killer. If he/she fails to comply, there will be severe consequences. Furthermore, Oedipus is eager to find justice and solve the case for his country. Similarly, I see justice as the foundation of any country or a person’s life because if a country lack justice, there will be chaos and constant disastrous events.
Justice does not always seem fair because someone is not going to be content with the verdict. Especially, when justice involves different people who have contradictory view on how it should displays. For example, Oedipus turned out to be the one who murdered Laius; however, it was not intentionally but self-defense. Due to the fact that the killing of Laius is huge among the people in Corinth, the punishment is harsh and detrimental to Oedipus who committed the crime. For instance, Oedipus lost his family, and he found out that Laius was his biological father. On the other hand, I don’t fully agree with the severity of the punishment because there should not be any consequences to anyone who commits a crime defending himself/herself. And the political status of the person who died should not trigger such punishment, especially if he was at fault.
Overall, there’s not a major difference between how Oedipus Rex and I define justice. Oedipus Rex sees justice as a significant way to bring closure to any crime or events.