Oedipus Flaws
In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, the Greek audience experiences Oedipus’ heartbreaking journey to find out who he really is and how his hubris and many other fatal flaws contribute to his downfall. The Greeks loved a good tragedy and Oedipus Rex did not disappoint. In this play Oedipus was put on a mountaintop as a baby because his birth parents, King Laïos and Queen Iocastê, were told that one day Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother. To prevent this from happening King Laïos and Queen Iocastê put holes through his ankles and tied them with leather so Oedipus would not crawl away from the mountaintop and eventually come back and fulfill his prophecy. King Laïos and Queen Iocastê left baby Oedipus to the Gods on top of the
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mountaintop and said now whatever happens is up to the Gods. Little did they know, Oedipus would grow up and fulfill his prophecy. The audience enjoyed this play because they already knew what was going to happen before Oedipus did.
Because of this, the Greeks found the play humorous as well. The story of Oedipus was familiar to the audience, like Romeo and Juliet or Humpty Dumpty is familiar to us, so the knew what was going to happen before coming to the theater.The audience saw many flaws in Oedipus that contributed to his downfall. Hubris was one of them. Oedipus grew up with a father as a king so he lived a very privileged life and the audience saw that. Because of his hubris he thought he was untouchable, that he could not do anything wrong. When the soothsayer came to see Oedipus his arrogance and ignorance was blatantly obvious, “You dare say that! Can you possibly think you have some way of going free, after such insolence” (Sophocles 284)? The soothsayer would not tell Oedipus what he saw and because of that Oedipus got mad and started blaming the soothsayer for killing King Laïos. That showed how ignorant and arrogant Oedipus was, and how he saw himself as untouchable. Oedipus also thought that he was invincible after he defeated the riddle of the Sphinx. The gods used his wit and knowledge and turned that against him because the lesson for man is that he is not as smart as the
gods. Oedipus was also deceived. The audience knew that King Polybus was Oedipus’ adoptive father but Oedipus did not. Later in the play Oedipus finds out that his prophecy is to kill his father and marry his mother, “I went to the shrine at Delphi. The god dismissed my question without reply; He spoke of other things. Some were clear, full of wretchedness, dreadful, unbearable: As, that i should lie with my own mother, breed children from whom all men would turn their eyes; And that i should be my father’s murderer”(Sophocles 215). So out of fear Oedipus runs away from his home. But little did he know that the further he went away from his family the closer he would get to fulfilling his prophecy. Being easily angered contributed to Oedipus’ downfall as well. The audience saw many everything that made Oedipus angry that probably went unnoticed by Oedipus himself, and the other characters. Because of Oedipus’ temper, he ended up killing his real father, King Laïos,“At a place where three roads met, all unawares he encountered his real father, Laius, King of Thebes” (Barstow 182). The audience never saw how Oedipus killed his father,they only heard about it through Oedipus himself, “Swinging my club in this right hand I knocked him out of his car, and he rolled to the ground. I killed him” (Sophocles 216). The Greek audience already knew that Oedipus killed his father before Oedipus did himself, but it was still lugubrious to hear. Denial also contributed to Oedipus’ downfall. Oedipus would not believe that he killed his own father, even when Teiresias came to him and tried to tell him that he did in fact kill his father, Oedipus would not hear of it, “He indignantly accuses Creon of bribing Teiresias to speak those words” (Barstow 183). This also ties into how he believed he outsmarted the gods and that he thought his prophecy would not come true.. It also did not help when a messenger came and told Oedipus that his adoptive father, King Polybus, had died. So after hearing that Oedipus thought that he could not have fulfilled his prophecy and killed King Laius because his father did not die because of him, even though most of the characters including the theatergoers knew that he did. Oedipus had many hamartias that led to his downfall. He was too arrogant, he was deceived, and had a bad temper. Unfortunately Oedipus did not know that these hamartias were eventually going to lead him on a path of destruction . Sophocles did a great job of showing the audience how a quick thinking, strong, and heroic king, can cause his own downfall of hero to all.
mountaintop and said now whatever happens is up to the Gods. Little did they know, Oedipus would grow up and fulfill his prophecy. The audience enjoyed this play because they already knew what was going to happen before Oedipus did.
Because of this, the Greeks found the play humorous as well. The story of Oedipus was familiar to the audience, like Romeo and Juliet or Humpty Dumpty is familiar to us, so the knew what was going to happen before coming to the theater.The audience saw many flaws in Oedipus that contributed to his downfall. Hubris was one of them. Oedipus grew up with a father as a king so he lived a very privileged life and the audience saw that. Because of his hubris he thought he was untouchable, that he could not do anything wrong. When the soothsayer came to see Oedipus his arrogance and ignorance was blatantly obvious, “You dare say that! Can you possibly think you have some way of going free, after such insolence” (Sophocles 284)? The soothsayer would not tell Oedipus what he saw and because of that Oedipus got mad and started blaming the soothsayer for killing King Laïos. That showed how ignorant and arrogant Oedipus was, and how he saw himself as untouchable. Oedipus also thought that he was invincible after he defeated the riddle of the Sphinx. The gods used his wit and knowledge and turned that against him because the lesson for man is that he is not as smart as the
gods. Oedipus was also deceived. The audience knew that King Polybus was Oedipus’ adoptive father but Oedipus did not. Later in the play Oedipus finds out that his prophecy is to kill his father and marry his mother, “I went to the shrine at Delphi. The god dismissed my question without reply; He spoke of other things. Some were clear, full of wretchedness, dreadful, unbearable: As, that i should lie with my own mother, breed children from whom all men would turn their eyes; And that i should be my father’s murderer”(Sophocles 215). So out of fear Oedipus runs away from his home. But little did he know that the further he went away from his family the closer he would get to fulfilling his prophecy. Being easily angered contributed to Oedipus’ downfall as well. The audience saw many everything that made Oedipus angry that probably went unnoticed by Oedipus himself, and the other characters. Because of Oedipus’ temper, he ended up killing his real father, King Laïos,“At a place where three roads met, all unawares he encountered his real father, Laius, King of Thebes” (Barstow 182). The audience never saw how Oedipus killed his father,they only heard about it through Oedipus himself, “Swinging my club in this right hand I knocked him out of his car, and he rolled to the ground. I killed him” (Sophocles 216). The Greek audience already knew that Oedipus killed his father before Oedipus did himself, but it was still lugubrious to hear. Denial also contributed to Oedipus’ downfall. Oedipus would not believe that he killed his own father, even when Teiresias came to him and tried to tell him that he did in fact kill his father, Oedipus would not hear of it, “He indignantly accuses Creon of bribing Teiresias to speak those words” (Barstow 183). This also ties into how he believed he outsmarted the gods and that he thought his prophecy would not come true.. It also did not help when a messenger came and told Oedipus that his adoptive father, King Polybus, had died. So after hearing that Oedipus thought that he could not have fulfilled his prophecy and killed King Laius because his father did not die because of him, even though most of the characters including the theatergoers knew that he did. Oedipus had many hamartias that led to his downfall. He was too arrogant, he was deceived, and had a bad temper. Unfortunately Oedipus did not know that these hamartias were eventually going to lead him on a path of destruction . Sophocles did a great job of showing the audience how a quick thinking, strong, and heroic king, can cause his own downfall of hero to all.