Justice In The Myth Of Oedipus Rex

What is to be considered just and what is not? Throughout the years of human civilization, our idea of a just punishment has changed slightly, yet the word justice still has a definition that is widely accepted and has been preserved through human history, ‘that which is deserved’. The Myth of Oedipus Rex takes place at the time of Greek culture where gods were seen as the deliverers of justice. In the story of Oedipus Rex, one follows the life of a man named Oedipus who, although born into wealth, is given what seems like a nasty unjust fate. Oedipus is depicted as a good and ordinary man who strives to solve life's riddles as effectively as a man could. Oedipus, however, is not a perfect being so he too falls victim to his emotional outbursts and is affected by others decisions. It can be said that due to his good nature Oedipus had always been searching for justice not only for himself but for others as well. This is depicted in the story when Oedipus saves the city of Thebes from the Sphinx. His heroic action can be interpreted to imply that he had success in finding justice for others, but, as the conclusion of the play shows, he had trouble finding justice for himself.
It is Important to remember that the Greeks gave little to no weight to the idea of intention. That believed that whether the accused had malicious intent or not was irrelevant because even if there was no malicious intent the crime was still committed and deserved just punishment. In our points of view, because Oedipus had no intent in committing the crimes, maybe even tried to avoid committing them, he did not deserve such “unjust” punishment. However, in Greek times this would have been seen as a just punishment because, like stated above, they didn’t give value to