Family and Love in Oedipus the King
Jont’e Davis
Elizabeth Perkins
English 1102
13 September 2013
Family and Love: Oedipus the King
Family and love is important, it’s something that is very hard to live without. These are two things everyone has in their life. At times people may feel like they cannot make it far without either, because it plays a huge part in their daily life or success. It has been this way for ages. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus recognizes that there is no difference between his current situation and the one that is destined to come true by the prophecy, which is, that the man he killed was in fact his father, and the woman he married was his mother. He was so eager to find out who his biological parents were that he forgot about his family and all the good things that happened to him.
Oedipus had lots of family issues; not knowing who his real parents were was eating him alive. However, Oedipus had an opportunity to find out who they were and he was going to do that under any circumstance. His wife Jocasta knew the truth, but she could not bear to tell him, knowing that she was undoubtedly his mother. When Jocasta told Oedipus that her son she had by Laius had been born to kill his father that made Oedipus second guess a lot of things, about himself, the curse and most importantly his family. The story did not add up to him, it was the mere fact that he killed a man when he was a child; he immediately thought it was his father.
Family is something we all cherish and need. For Oedipus to even think he murdered his father had him on the edge. Having your parents around is one of the greatest gifts you can have
In your life. Parents make their child feel secure and happy; Oedipus could have been lacking these traits and just had to know.
“He drave the points into his eyes; and soon/ The bleeding pupils moistened all his beard,/Nor stinted the dark flood, but all at once/The ruddy hail poured down in plenteous shower./Thus from two springs, from man and wife
Elizabeth Perkins
English 1102
13 September 2013
Family and Love: Oedipus the King
Family and love is important, it’s something that is very hard to live without. These are two things everyone has in their life. At times people may feel like they cannot make it far without either, because it plays a huge part in their daily life or success. It has been this way for ages. In Oedipus the King, Oedipus recognizes that there is no difference between his current situation and the one that is destined to come true by the prophecy, which is, that the man he killed was in fact his father, and the woman he married was his mother. He was so eager to find out who his biological parents were that he forgot about his family and all the good things that happened to him.
Oedipus had lots of family issues; not knowing who his real parents were was eating him alive. However, Oedipus had an opportunity to find out who they were and he was going to do that under any circumstance. His wife Jocasta knew the truth, but she could not bear to tell him, knowing that she was undoubtedly his mother. When Jocasta told Oedipus that her son she had by Laius had been born to kill his father that made Oedipus second guess a lot of things, about himself, the curse and most importantly his family. The story did not add up to him, it was the mere fact that he killed a man when he was a child; he immediately thought it was his father.
Family is something we all cherish and need. For Oedipus to even think he murdered his father had him on the edge. Having your parents around is one of the greatest gifts you can have
In your life. Parents make their child feel secure and happy; Oedipus could have been lacking these traits and just had to know.
“He drave the points into his eyes; and soon/ The bleeding pupils moistened all his beard,/Nor stinted the dark flood, but all at once/The ruddy hail poured down in plenteous shower./Thus from two springs, from man and wife