Essay About Oedipus Downfall

From honorable and successful king to devastated, blind, man guilty of murder and incest, Oedipus’ downfall is so drastic that it poses the question: what did Oedipus do to deserve such misfortune? E.R. Dodds and his students give varying interpretations to this question; some students state that Oedipus’ downfall is a result of his own actions and proves that people always getting what they deserve, while others believe his downfall is part of his destiny and proves that people cannot escape their destiny. A last group of students claims that Oedipus’ downfall evokes no theme or moral but is simply an artfully crafted story. Although Oedipus’ misfortune is caused by his own actions, as some students claim, no group of students successfully identify what leads to Oedipus’ tragic circumstances. Oedipus’s actions cause the discovery of his marriage to his mother and killing of his father, not because his behavior is unethical and deserving of punishment, as Dodd’s students’ suggest, but because he gains control over the people of Thebes and values himself over the Gods, angering the Gods. The Gods, having instilled fear in all people, have cruelly expressed their superiority in the past and do so with Oedipus by corrupting him with the knowledge of his murder and incest and limiting his power, showing that he should not
The gods have corrupted Oedipus, turning him from wise and authoritative king to a broken, powerless character. Neither fate nor poor moral character lead to this misfortune, as many of Dodds’ students state, but Oedipus’ own misjudgment of his and the Gods’ power cause his downfall. Through this, the Gods’ show their superiority over Oedipus and all humans, for they can change one’s life by purely revealing the truth about them. For Oedipus, his truth is so destructive that he is cursed, unable to see any joy in the