Vengeance In Sophocles 'Oedipus The King'

Appearances are not always what they seem. Many figures in society are shown to be flawless however they ahem cheated and have a backstory that is not very pleasant. In Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles shows that Oedipus is not only a king but a man who was adopted, killed his own father, and slept with his mother and fathered many children. Appearances are not always what they seem. The first piece of evidence is that Oedipus was never told he was adopted by his parents. He learned this by a old man. The old man told him that he was adopted (bastard), however Oedipus denied the sort of accusation and then questioned his adopted parents. They also denied it. ”There was a dinner and at it a man, a drunken man, accused me in his drink of being bastard. I was furious but held my temper under for that day. Next day I went and taxed my parents with it; they took the insult very ill from him, the drunken fellow who had uttered it.” Oedipus later learned the truth about his heritage. A king of a city is almost never adopted, Oedipus was never supposed to live, he was supposed be killed by his parents and survived because of the mercy of a Shepard. This

He did so unknowingly as he was adopted and didn’t know that Jocasta was his birth mother. However he fell in love with her and did so anyway. “O, O, O, they will all come, all come out clearly! Light of the sun, let me look upon you no more after today! I who first saw the light bred of a match accursed and accursed in my living with them I lived with, cursed in my killing.” In this quote he realizes what he has done for he has not only disgraced his family but himself. This is not only a taboo in society but also terrible for his children. The children are products of incest and will not only be outcasts. And the girls he fathered will never find family and will live in isolation. Appearances are not always what they