King Oedipus son of Laius his father has been found guilty of the crime of murder and incest by his own conscious decisions. His punishment is banishment. It was the lack of evidence that proved to his honor that there was reasonable doubt in the guilt of Oedipus. The defenses case was not strong enough to prove that Oedipus was innocent. The prosecution brought many people to the stand that weakened the case of the defense. They called the only survivor of the attack of Laius and his men, he said that there was clearly no need to kill the king Oedipus could have controlled the situation without having to kill anyone of the men, but as the man said Oedipus lost control and his temper and killed his King and his comrades. This just shows that
The selfishness that Oedipus possesses causes him to have abundance of ignorance. This combination is what leads to his father’s death. After fleeing Corinth and his foster family, Oedipus gets into a skirmish with an older man. The reason for the fight was because, “The groom leading the horses forced me off the road at his lord’s command” (1336). Oedipus is filled with a rage after being insulted by the lord and feels the need to act. The two men fight, but Oedipus ends up being too much for the older man, and he kills him. What Oedipus is unaware of is that the man was actually his birth father and by killing him, Oedipus has started on the path of his own destruction. Not only does Oedipus kill his father, but also everyone else, “I killed them all” (1336). The other men had no part in the scuffle, but in his rage, he did not care who he was killing.
-not knowing it was his biological father- could not be avoided, his ignorance in a certain way absolves him of all blame. As for the "incest" matter, Oedipus is certainly not guilty of such a thing for it was Jocasta who promised to marry him in the first place, we can blame Jocasta for the downfall as much as we can blame Oedipus for it. Oedipus is certainly not guilty of anything.
Since Oedipus had no knowledge of his birth parents, he cannot be accused of knowingly fulfilling the prophecy. He had no understanding of Laius as his birth father upon killing him. One might say that Oedipus is then guilty of murder regardless, but if he had killed in self defense, that cannot be true. Likewise, if Oedipus had no understanding of Jocasta as his birth mother, then he cannot be guilty of incest. Neither can he be guilty of defiling Laius’s marriage bed, as he did not know that Jocasta was the wife of the man he had murdered.
Oedipus is shown to be a well-liked and trusted king among all his townspeople. Solving the riddle of the Sphinx and saving Thebes brought him great fame and popularity. When time came to save the town from Laios’ killer, Oedipus relied much on his intellect. He searched for information about the night of the murder from Creon and Teiresias, but as he learned more details, Oedipus realized not only that he was the killer but also that he married his mother. Throughout his inquiry he believed he was doing good for his people as well as himself, but eventually it brought him shame. Oedipus was humiliated and disgusted and stated, “…kill me; or hurl me into the sea, away from men’s eyes for ever(p882, 183).'; Oedipus’ wanted to be isolated from the people of Thebes because all his respect and fame was destroyed by his fate.
Justice in Oedipus the King & nbsp; After reading Oedipus the King, one may think that in this story, there was no justice, and nobody could avoid their fate. King Laius and Queen Jocasta. fearing the prophecy of the Delphic oracle, had the young Oedipus left on Mount. Cithaeron dies, but the father dies and the son marries the mother anyway. Oedipus, seemingly a good person, also tries to avoid the second prophecy, only to be resurrected. to fulfill the first. But even through all this, I have done some research and feel that there was justice in Oedipus, The King, and their fate wasn't.
In Sophicle's Oedipus The King, Oedipus plays the lead character in the play. Oedipus plays blindfolded throughout the play. His character that he betrays is typical of those who honestly believe they have no part in the situation that occurs. I agree with Bernard Knox that Oedipus is responsible for the tragic outcome of the play. Oedipus's investigation of the death of King Laius is the reason for the tragic ending.
Oedipus is seen to have double standards with regards to the idea of murder. He is aware that he has killed someone, yet to hear that King Laius was killed, he seems appalled, "...so daring, so wild, he'd kill a king?"p166. It is depicted as being morally less acceptable to kill someone of "royal blood".
Oedipus is guilty because, despite knowing the prophecy that he will commit parricide and incest, he yet kills an elderly gentleman and sleeps with an elderly women. The choice was his, and this accounts for his guilt.
In perhaps one of the most well known stories in the Western world, Oedipus the King, innocence and guilt are two of the most discussed aspects. The implications surrounding the guilt or innocence of Oedipus can not only be applied to this play, but to almost all stories told throughout the Western tradition. Within Oedipus the King, no one character carries the guilt of the events in the play, rather it is a culmination of humans trying to avoid their fate that create a paradox of individuals who are all at once guilty and innocent, with the different acts of individuals ultimately bringing about the fate that Oedipus suffers.
A crime is an action or offense that will be considered wrong, and will be earned negative effects like punishments. If an individual is convicted of a crime, then that individual deserves the punishment. This is displayed through Anaphora, and strongly highlighted the negative actions that Oedipus performed, written by the Sophocles. An individual's severity of a punishment exhibits the intensity of that particular crime, and this is presented when Oedipus claims ¨O woe is me!
The two crimes being patricide and the other incest. Although the fact that he may have not been able to escape these crimes shows a glimpse of innocence. It is likely true in the eyes of a spectator is that Oedipus committed these crimes not by any reason other than free will. Murdering his own father Laius constitutes free will of its own as he was not forced into doing it. That being true what are the coincidences that he would also end up marrying his own mother as well. Both coincide directly after another as though it was pre-determined by some other source of power. It is possible that fate, light and darkness, and knowledge will develop the potential of innocence and are major factors in this
The tragic beginning for the city of Thebes all begins the day that the prophecy of Oedipus is revealed. According to the prophecy, Oedipus is supposed to assassinate his father and make love with his mother. Knowing this, his father orders to have his son killed but the servant in charge of this duty gives his son to an old man because he pities the young infant. Although Oedipus indeed did commit these atrocious acts he cannot be fully blamed because he did not know the implications of his actions. In fact, could it be Laius and Jocasta’s fault for believing in these prophecies so much that they cursed themselves the day that they ordered Oedipus to be gone and laid upon the city of Thebes a curse which could have been stopped? Taking responsibility for your actions is the right thing to do, however one should not have to pay for the mistakes of others.
The tale of King Oedipus is well known. An enraged Oedipus unknowingly slays his father (Laiusq, King of Thebes) and supplants him as monarch and as husband to his own mother (Queen Jocasta). As each successive "layer of the onion" is unpeeled, Oedipus is brought a step closer to realizing the true nature of his actions. Foretold in prophecy and initiated by his anger, the downfall of Oedipus comes to fruition as all facts gradually come to light.
Sophocles demonstrates in the play Oedipus the King that a human being, not a God, ultimately determines destiny. That is, people get what they deserve. In this play, one poorly-made judgment results in tragic and inescapable density. Oedipus fights and kills Laius without knowing Laius is his father. Then, Oedipus's pitiless murdering causes several subsequent tragedies such as the incestuous marriage of Oedipus gets into the flight with Laius. However, Oedipus's characteristics after Laius's death imply that Oedipus could avoid the fight as well as the murder of his father, but did not. Ultimately, Oedipus gets what he deserves due to his own characteristics that lead him to murder Laius: impatience, delusion, and arrogance.
“Oedipus the King” by Sophocles is a tragedy of a man who unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother. Aristotles’ ideas of tragedy are tragic hero, hamartia, peripeteia, anagnorisis, and catharsis these ideas well demonstrated throughout Sophocles tragic drama of “Oedipus the King”.