Identity In Oedipus The King

In the tragedy of Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, a man tries to escape the Fate he had been given, but unfortunate circumstances ensure that it comes true. Oedipus, the new ruler of Thebes tries to find information of his past and on King Laius' death but unravels the unholy secrets of his true identity. Oedipus had killed his father, Laius, at a crossroads and married his mother, Queen Jocasta unknowingly, then created many children with her such as his featured daughters Antigone and Ismene. The truth shattered the sinful family and Jocasta hung herself, Oedipus stabbed out his eyeballs, and Creon ironically became king. Oedipus walks into a fate he was trying to escape and is blind to the truth until it is revealed in the end. At the beginning
of the play, Oedipus leaves his home for fear of fulfilling a wretched prophecy. When he was Prince of Corinth, an oracle told him a horrific prophecy of how he'd murder his father and marry his mother, as he said on page 17, ". . .Apollo told me all sorts of other horrible, dreadful prophesies; prophesies like, one day I'd become my mother's husband, and that I'd spawn a generation rejected by mankind, and that I'd murder my father! At that I let the stars guide my path and left Corinth behind me. I walked away from there so that I wouldn't allow the slightest chance for these awful prophesies to come true. I walked and walked until I came upon that forked road where you've told me Laius was murdered." So Oedipus he fled the city, he thought that he had escaped his fate by leaving Corinth and ridding Thebes of the dreaded Sphinx. Consequently becoming a hero, and marrying their queen, Jocasta. As the play progresses, Oedipus disregards the oracle Tiresias' warnings and prophecies.
At first, Tiresias was refusing to speak with Oedipus because he didn't want him to reveal the horrible truth of his identity for fear of all hell breaking loose in the kingdom. "I can see where your ill-fated words will take you and I do not want to be your companion on that journey." Tiresias told him on page 6. But he eventually grew angry and outright told him the consequences of looking into his identity. "In your ignorance," he first mocked Oedipus on page 7, "you perform vile acts with those closest to you. Vile acts, of which you know nothing and which you cannot
see." Throughout the play, Oedipus thinks his parents are Queen Meropi and King Polybus of Corinth, but is blind to the pieces of clues left for him. Oedipus had decided to look into his identity and play detective for a while, Jocasta told him about the prophecy she'd been given about her son killing her husband and marrying her, so she sent it away to have it killed. "Once, an oracle came to Laius saying that it was his Fate to die by the hand of his son — his and my son!" Jocasta explained on page 15, "As for the boy, three days after he was born, the king had his ankles pinned and gave him to someone to take to the forest where no human ever went. And so, neither the child was allowed by Apollo to kill his father, nor did Laius suffer murder at the hands of his own son." So, he spoke to a shepherd and a herald who said the baby was still alive and that they sent it to Corinth. "Old Polybus recieved you as a gift from my hands." The herald said to Oedipus on page 21. Then during his travels to Thebes from Corinth he had encountered a band of men and fought with them, thinking he killed one, which from what Oedipus heard from Tiresias, was most likely Laius. "Let me say this to you then: the man whom you are hunting with curses and threats for Laius' murder is right here! He is thought of as a foreigner, an alien, but he will be found to be a true Theban, born right here! . . . Because from someone who now has prideful eyes, he will soon be wandering blindly, in utter poverty, and studying the ground with a blind man's stick." Tiresias stated on page 9, foreshadowing Oedipus' future blindness and implying that he was Laius' true murderer. At the end of the play, Oedipus finally gains the sight to realize he walked into the fate he originally tried to avoid.
After his detective work, he realized his true identity. He was the baby that Jocasta had sent to die, he really did marry his mother and might've even killed his father during his travels. This horrific news caused Jocasta to hang herself and Oedipus to stab out his eyes, becoming literally blind. Oedipus' stubborn blindness during key moments in the play, made the truth more shocking when it was eventually revealed. In general, people tend to ignore or avoid information that they don't want to hear, as if they're blind to the truth. "Your anger, King Oedipus, which lives deep in your own raging heart -- that anger you do not see. You do not wish to see!" Tiresias said to Oedipus on page
6.