Comparing Oedipus And Holmes Search For Truth

Oedipus and Holmes Search for Truth
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and The Adventure of the Three Students by Arthur Conan Doyle are both intriguing stories that involve a crime and a search for truth. In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus searches for the truth of who murdered his father, but little did he know, he was the one who murdered his father. In The Adventure of the Three Students, Sherlock Holmes is on a search for truth to figure out who was trying to cheat on an exam.
In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus runs from Corinth because he fears that he will fulfill the prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother. While he was fleeing, he ran into a man and five of the man’s servants at a place where three highways met. Oedipus killed the man and four of the man’s five servants. Later, on his way to Thebes, Oedipus solved the riddle of the Sphinx so the people of Thebes wanted to make him their king and have him marry the Queen, Jocasta. So Oedipus married the queen and became king of Thebes. Little did anyone one know, but that decision to marry Queen Jocastsa fulfilled the prophecy that Oedipus had been trying to avoid by fleeing Corinth and coming to Thebes.
Soon after Oedipus became king, he went searching for the truth about who had killed his father, but little did Oedipus know that it himself (Oedipus) that had murdered king Laios.
Oedipus went to the blind prophet Tiresias ask who murdered Laios, and Tiresias told Oedipus that Oedipus himself was the murderer, but Oedipus did not believe him. Throughout almost the whole book, Oedipus is searching for the truth about who murdered Laios and about who his parents really are. At the end of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus finally completes his search for truth and comes to the realization that he is the one who murdered Laios and that he fulfilled the prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother (Sophocles
29). In Oedipus Rex, Oedipus says “Ah me! ah me! all brought to pass, all true! O light, may I behold thee nevermore! I stand a wretch, in birth, in wedlock cursed, a parricide, incestuously, triply cursed!” This is a very important quote because it shows Oedipus’ emotions. It shows how horrified he is that he fulfilled the prophecy and killed his father and married his mother. In conclusion, Oedipus eventually completes his search for truth, but the truth he finds horrifies him and he sends himself into exile for what he did.
In The Adventure of the Three Students, Sherlock Holmes is hired by Hilton Soames, a Greek professor, to find out who had gotten into his office, copied an exam that was going to be take next day, and was planning to cheat on it. Since Watson describes the university as a famous one with lots of gothic, this all takes place at likely either Oxford or Cambridge. Holmes goes on a search for truth to figure out who was trying to cheat on the exam. There are three student suspects. Gilchrist is a superstar athlete and excellent student who is friendly to Holmes and Watson even though they are strangers to him (Doyle 4-5). Daulat Ras is a quiet and hard working student, but he wants Holmes and Watson to leave when they talk to him (Ras) in his dorm room (Doyle 4-50. McLaren is smart, but is a slacker and he won 't even let Holmes and Watson into his dorm to talk because he claims he is frantically studying (Doyle 4-5). To everybody but Holmes, these are the only three suspects.
Although Holmes needs no help on this case, he does ask Watson for his opinion on the case. The night before Holmes reveals who the cheater is, he asks Watson who he thinks it is. Watson says he thinks it is either Ras or McLaren. The next day Holmes reveals who the cheater is, and to everybody’s surprise, it turns out to be two people! Holmes says that it was Gilchrist who did it, but Soames’ butler named Bannister covered up for Gilchrist. Holmes explains that Gilchrist runs track and came back from practice with his cleats. He saw the exam, jumped in the window, and yielded to temptation and copied it. But he was interrupted so he hid in Soames 's bedroom. Gilchrist 's cleats caused the scratch on the table and the black putty that Holmes found was mud from the shoes. Gilchrist also owned a pencil that left the shavings at the scene. Also he dropped his gloves. Bannister saw them and covered them up by sitting on them in a chair, faking a panic attack until Soames left (Doyle 8). It turns out Bannister used to work for Gilchrist 's father and knew Gilchrist as a child, so he covered for the young man. In the story it says “Holmes looked triumphantly at Bannister” (Doyle 8). This sentence is very important because it shows that Bannister thought he could get away with what he had done, but Holmes knew all along that Bannister had played a part in Gilchrist trying to cheat. Gilchrist does apologize to Soames and then says that he 's dropping out of school and is taking a commission with the police force in South Africa. This puts an end the cheating scandal and Holmes search for the truth.
As is apparent, Oedipus and Holmes both go on a search for truth. They both find out the truth that they are searching for in a 24-hour period. Also, the truth that they both find was not expecting by anyone. In conclusion, Oedipus and Holmes both go on a search for truth and in a short time, they find the truth they are seeking, although it is not what anyone expected.

Works Cited
Doyle, Arthur C. The Adventure of the Three Students. 2.5nd ed. N.p.: n.p., 2012. 1-8. The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Web. 7 Mar. 2013.

Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Ed. Stanley Appelbaum. New York: Dover, 1991. Print.