Truth In Sophocles 'The King Oedipus Everyman'

Truth

Imagine in front of you lies a list. Within this list contains everything anyone has ever said or thought about you, every truth about your existence. Yes, it’s tempting. Every human seeks to know the full story about themselves, it’s their nature. But even when someone thinks they want to know the truth, the moment they get it, it’s the biggest regret of their life. The truth can be a powerful weapon, it can save someone, but it can also destroy someone. In the play The king Oedipus by Sophocles, Oedipus is an “everyman” because of his desire to know the truth but also because the this desire is his biggest regret, which is inferred from his reactions to the events in his life.

Oedipus reveals his relatable human traits by first seeking

As he learns more, he becomes nervous: “I have terrible fear the blind seer can see” (Sophocles 203). Everyone thinks they want to know the truth but if they don’t like it the reactions are similar to Oedipus’s: “I think I have just called down a dreadful curse upon myself--I simply didn’t know! (Sophocles 203). Of course he “simply didn’t know” but that's the thing about truth, no one knows. He tries to run away from the first truth he learns: “I abandoned Corinth, from that day on I gauged its landfill only by the stars, running always running toward some place where I would never see the shame of all those oracles come true” (Sophocles 205), but it still follows him: “I killed them all--every mother’s son!” (Sophocles 206). If Oedipus had never let Apollo tell him his oracle then he wouldn’t have made the mistake of finding the truth, but he couldn’t help himself once again, which he acknowledged: “I brought down these piling curses on myself!” (Sophocles 206). The oracle was never something after he learned the truth: “I’d never have come to this, my father’s murderer--never been branded mother’s husband, all men see me now” (Sophocles 242), but by receiving the truth himself, he also reveals it to his people, causing his

The one thing he tried so hard to avoid--laying with his mother and killing his father--happens all along. Oedipus is in terror: “My darkness, drowning, swirling, around me crashing wave on wave--unspeakable, irresistible headwine, fatal harbor!” (Sophocles 240). He even cuts his own eyes out: “How could you bear it, gouging out your eyes?” (Sophocles 240), which has bigger meaning than said. When he had his eyes he could not see the truth but wanted it, but when he saw the truth he wanted nothing to do with it, so he tore them out in hope of redeemal. He hates himself now and accepts his punishment for actions he tried his best to avoid: “I am abomination --heart and soul! I must be exiled, and even in exile never see my parents” (Sophocles 206). What makes this even more tragic is that this could have happened to anyone. You spend your life finding the truth, you receive it, but then you wish you never knew: “Oblivion--what a blessing… for the mind to dwell a world away from pain” (Sophocles 243). Sometimes living without the truth is less