Critical Analysis on Oedipus the King

John K. McFadden

Professor Orlando Pizana

English Composition II 4659

30 November 2017

Sight and Belief: The Directors of Fate

“Oedipus the King” is a tragic play that was written by Sophocles who is known as one

of the great Greek playwrights. The play “Oedipus the King” was first performed in 429 BC.

This was a very good time for the Greeks both socially and economically. It was something of a

golden age for them and during periods like this throughout history we tend to see large amounts

growth in extracurricular endeavors especially in fine arts. Furthermore, this play is often

considered the pinnacle of Greek tragedies. Other stories by Sophocles were “Oedipus at

Coronus” and “Antigone” (which is about one of Oedipus’s daughters). Throughout the story

Oedipus finds himself lacking the knowledge he needs and has to rely on what others have told

him. His choices are interesting but not unreasonable. Common theme discussed about this

tragedy is the irony of Oedipus’s lack of sight and whether or not he ever actually had any

control over his fate. I believe that while his knowledge, and by extension his effort to control his

fate, was impaired by what he had not seen he was also hindered by his disbelief and what he

thought he knew.

Sophocles was a master of releasing details in small doses but making their meanings

clear. To make his play more suspenseful he does not go in chronological order. The story starts

when Oedipus is an adult and is the current king of a kingdom called Thebes. Recently the land

of Thebes has been barren due to a curse put on it by the gods. Stories that had mythological

themes or references to mythology were also very common during this time. The Greeks were

polytheist, which just means that they believed in many different gods. Each god had their own

specialty and people prayed to the god of whatever they wanted to make things go well. Greeks

often explained everyday phenomena by attributing some kind of help or effort to which every

god seem to be the most appropriate. Another important thing to note here is that the Greeks also

believed in mediums. Mediums were believed to be ways that humans could connect to and

contact their gods and other beings in the spirit world. Only certain people could use them

however and this made those people very popular. Some of these people were called oracles and

people went to talk to them when they needed information from the gods. Oedipus was troubled

about the state of his kingdom and wanted to know why the gods were upset so he sent Creon,

the brother of the previous late Laius, to ask an oracle. The oracle said that in order to remove

the plague from the land the murderer of king Laius must be found and punished for his crime.

When Creon reports this to Oedipus the king immediately sets his mind to seeking justice for the

previous king. At this point, the only thing that Oedipus thinks he “knows” about Laius’s murder

is that a group of thieves killed the king and his men. This information made known to him by

the report of an eyewitness. Oedipus is starting his search with a small piece of information that

he does not know is true but believes anyways. This leads him away from the truth.

Throughout his search, Oedipus found himself hearing bits and pieces of the story from a

few different people. Now remember he is the king of this land so the people he is talking to

have been searched out and brought to the palace to tell him the information that they know. The

first person he talks to is Teiresias. Teiresias is supposedly a man with personal connection to the

gods and understands “everything.” This would be a sensible choice in people if you wanted to

know something. This man however, does not want to tell the king the truth and Oedipus has to

drag it out of him with threats. It turns out that the reason he did not want to speak was because

he knew that it was Oedipus who had killed Laius. After Teiresias tells him this, Oedipus is

enraged just as the wise man feared he would be. Despite all of this, the king writes off Teiresias’

account and claims that he must be lying. The fact that this Teiresias is so knowledgeable and

has had a history of using his influence honestly makes