City Of Thebes In Oedipus The King

Oedipus the King takes place in the Ancient Greece city of Thebes. Oedipus is the protagonist. It is made clear at the beginning of the play that Oedipus is a man of high stature that is able to grab the audience’s attention. Oedipus proclaims, “I Oedipus whom all men call the Great.” (Sophocles 8) Oedipus is shown to be a man of great reputation, capable of solving many problems. When a plague strikes the city the king takes it upon himself to get rid of the outbreak. He is merely looking out for the best interest of his people. In order to do so Oedipus reveals he must discover who killed the previous king Laius. When speaking to the people of Thebes while searching for the slayer of Laius, Oedipus declares, “Upon the murderer I invoke this
During the play Oedipus intentionally blinds himself to the truth moreover, by the end he opens his mind to the truth of his unwillingly past. Oedipus comes to the realization that he killed his farther and married his mother. With, Jocasta, his mother he had for children. In the end she kills herself in the room where he and she had sexual intercourse. Furthermore, the humiliation of sleeping with his own mother, Oedipus takes Jocasta’s brooches and dashing them on his own eyeballs, shrieking out that he will never be able to see the crime he committed or had done upon him. (Sophocles
In effect, Oedipus is dead, for he receives none of the benefits of the living.” Though he has not really died and been buried his life will never be the same. Oedipus receives the worst of both worlds between life and death, and he elicits greater pity from the audience.”(upenn) Being intellectually blind is worse than being physical blind; a physically blind person, Teiresias, knows that being blind is something one can cope with, however, an intellectually blind person, Oedipus, does not even know he is blind, and can do nothing about it since he is unaware he has a