Theme Of Suffering In Oedipus The King

1432 Words3 Pages

A Double-Lashing Through hardships and unpleasant struggles a man is forged, hardened, and tempered. He only see this truth after he has suffered. Looking back, he realizes it was all a part of a design greater than himself to serve an end goal or purpose. In the tale of Oedipus the King, Sophocles explores the issues of man’s unescapable fate and the enlightenment brought upon by suffering. Unaware of his fate and deceived by the illusion of freewill, Oedipus’s journeys reveal his true purpose as an instrument of the Gods: a lash of punishment, not only to himself for those who surround him. A great suffering has fallen upon Thebes. Oedipus seeks out the truth by sending for the Seer Tiresias, a blind man who sees more than those around …show more content…

Oedipus truth seeking has caused the death of the one he loves. He is now engulfed in the sorrowful truth he now sees clearly. Everything around him is a lie and a constant reminder of how he should have died on Mount Cithaeron as his parents intended, but the gods vengeance had not been sated. Oedipus maims himself as a way of punishment rather than commits suicide as he understands he is the reason for his mothers death and the suffering of the people of Thebes and doesn’t deserve a quick death. Sophocles uses the concept of blindness as a symbol necessary to have insight into the truth. Both Tiresias and the blind Oedipus are the only characters who see the truth clearly, as if sight is unnecessary for knowledge. Sophocles portrays Oedipus as being enlighten transforming his personality by making him appear more humble and …show more content…

Oedipus has no more freewill that that of a hammer that is held to drive in a nail. His purpose, his design is that of a cat of nine tails, to tear flesh, to incur suffering. Doomed by the gods from the very beginning and conceived by prophecy for the purpose of punishment for whom the gods have deemed worthy. It would be unreasonable to say Oedipus had a hand in causing his own downfall. Since birth his destiny had been manipulated by the gods. Laius and Jocasta’s attempt to stop the prophecy only brought about its fruition. Oedipus displayed attributes that the greeks viewed as virtues. Like his iron resolve as he displayed when he sought to act in the best interest of his people by seeking out the cause of his their suffering or his previous intellectual victory by solving the riddle of the sphinx which only put him closer to Jocasta so that the prophecy would be fulfilled. Oedipus’s own admirable traits only lead to the discovery of his fate to which he was a victim. Which shows that even without his temper, the characters fatal flaw, his most heroic deeds were never enough to redeem him or tear him from his fate. Concluding that Oedipus only had the illusion of choice and was never the master of his destiny only an instrument of

Open Document