Sophocles Oedipus The King
Prophecy and fate play a central role in Sophocles’ Greek tragedy, Oedipus the King. Even before Oedipus is born, the god Apollo has already determined the tragic nature of his existence. Each action that Oedipus takes to defy the gods causes himself and the city of Thebes to suffer greatly, substantiating Apollo’s original intentions. It is important to note that the audience is aware of the ultimate outcome of Oedipus. Sophocles used tragic irony in many plays, where the audience understands the words and actions of a character, although the character is unaware. Sophocles introduces Oedipus by highlighting his achievements. He has ascended to the throne as the King of Thebes after solving the riddle of the murderous Sphinx and freeing
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the city from her terror. His triumph over her has brought Oedipus much respect and admiration from the citizens. He married Jocasta, the former king’s wife, and she has yielded four children during their tenure together. After many years of peaceful rule, the city of Thebes has fallen victim to a ghastly plague that is killing crops, livestock, and many citizens. The play opens with the priests of Thebes coming to ask Oedipus for help. They beg him to save the city as he once had before. The priests believe that Apollo is punishing them and their prayers to him are not being heard. Oedipus, their intellectual and absolute ruler is the city’s only hope. Oedipus tells the priests that he knows their sorrow and he grieves with them, assuring the crowd that he is already seeking a solution. Displaying his deep respect of the gods, he has sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to consult the oracle at Delphi in order to decipher Apollo’s punishment and seek a solution. Creon returns with welcome news – Apollo will lift the plague if they “Drive the corruption from the land, don’t harbor it any longer.” (Line 109). They must banish or kill the man who murdered Laius, the former King of Thebes. Creon tells Oedipus that the king was murdered by a group of thieves at a crossing of three roads while he was traveling to consult an Oracle. Only one man from his entourage survived the attack, and upon returning to Thebes requested that he be allowed to live his days outside of the city because he still feared for his life. Oedipus is shocked to learn that the leaders did not pursue the matter further and find the king’s killer. Creon explains that the Sphinx was still terrorizing the city and they had to focus on the problem at hand. Once Oedipus had defeated the Sphinx and ascended the throne, the people believed that their troubles were over and the murder was soon a distant memory from a dark past. Oedipus give the impression that he is very displeased by this explanation and declares that he himself will avenge Laius’ murder – the first sign that Oedipus fate will be revealed in the near future. He asks the priests to summon all of the citizens so that he may give the news to everyone directly. The chorus enters filled with hope and dread. They praise the gods to no end, but are at the same time weary of them. They know that their fate lies directly in their hands. Oedipus enters from the palace and speaks to the chorus: “You pray to the gods? Let me answer your prayers.” (245). It appears that Sophocles is making a heavy point with this line. The Greeks did not boast that they were greater that the gods, to do so would surely bring retribution to that person and their house. Oedipus proclaiming that he can answer the peoples’ prayers is, therefore, blasphemous. Sophocles could have been using this scene as a tool to show the audience that such language angers the gods and will surely bring punishment; After all, Oedipus does lose his family, his throne, and his “life” on this day. Oedipus continues his speech to the chorus, explaining that the plague will be lifted once Laius’ murderer is brought to justice. He imposes a curse on the murderer, wishing that he “drag out his life in agony, step by painful step” (282-83). The audience knows that it is already predestined that this will happen to Oedipus, so it is even more ironic when Oedipus curses himself in lines 284-87. He speaks of Laius as well as his wife during this diatribe saying, “why, our seed might be the same, children born of the same mother might have created blood-bonds between us if his offspring had not met disaster (296-99). Sophocles has just made it crystal clear to the audience that Oedipus is completely ignorant of his situation and he has now set in motion a chain of events that will leave him in absolute ruin. Upon completion of his speech, the leader of the chorus explains that he is not the murderer, and no one can point him out, but he reminds Oedipus that Apollo has tasked them to banish or kill the man, not to also find him. Why not ask the god to reveal the murderer himself? Here Oedipus contradicts himself by stating, “Quite right, but to force the gods to act against their will – no man has the power” (318-20). Oedipus shifts between showing extreme confidence in himself, to showing blind faith in what the gods say. He has, after all, seemingly outwitted the gods once by running away from Corinth, but he also knows that his parents are still alive and that the prophecy may not be fulfilled yet. His personality leaves him room to still have doubt on the inside, but his confidence will not allow him to show that weakness to his people outwardly. When the leader suggests that they summon the blind prophet Tiresias, whom sees through Apollo’s eyes, Oedipus shows his egotism in full force: “I’ve not been slow with that…I sent the escorts twice, within the hour” (326-27). Oedipus is showing the people that he is certainly the right person to save the city – he has already set plans in motion before any other citizen can even fathom it. Once Tiresias enters, Oedipus showers him with compliments and then inquires about the prophecies of Apollo.
Tiresias is not flattered and immediately chastises him for being so foolish and ignorant. Oedipus becomes increasingly angry each time the prophet will not reveal what he knows and finally begins hurling insults at the old man. After quite a large quantity of verbal assault, Tiresias becomes enraged and he lets out the truth: Oedipus himself is the murderer, Jocasta is his mother as well as his wife, and he is the corruption that must be driven out of the land. Even though Oedipus knows Tiresias to be a true prophet of Apollo, his self-confidence prevents him from thinking and acting rationally at this point. In front of the entire city, Oedipus alleges that Creon sent the prophet to Thebes with that message in order to mislead the people and steal the throne from him. Oedipus is still ignoring the signs that things may not be as they seem to be. He is still brazenly pushing forward to seek the truth. The chorus is still confident in Oedipus because they deeply believe that the gods chose him to save Thebes from the Sphinx and he is destined to save them again. “We saw him with our own eyes, his skill, his brilliant triumph – there was the test – he was the joy of Thebes! Never will I convict my King, never in my heart”
(570-72). When Creon returns, he has evidently been informed of the charges brought against him and he and Oedipus begin to argue publicly. Jocasta finally intervenes and sends everyone away. She questions her husband about the altercation and scoffs when he explains that Tiresias declared he was Laius’ murderer. She tells him that this cannot be true because of the actions that she and her former husband took many years ago after an oracle of Apollo visited them with a prophecy. The oracle told Laius that he was fated to be murdered by his own son and then that son would marry his wife and she would bear her own son’s children. Laius circumvented this fate by having their three day old son killed. The newborn’s feet were pinned together and he was left to die on a barren mountaintop. She goes on to tell Oedipus that he has nothing to worry about because Laius had outsmarted the Oracle and then points to the fact that he was murdered by a band of thieves, certainly not his son. Perplexed, Oedipus continues questioning Jocasta as to the exact details of the murder. This line of questioning is the first occurrence that shows his doubt outwardly. She describes the timeline and details of the murder and Oedipus becomes legitimately worried that Tiresias’ accusation may be true. He asks Jocasta to summon the lone survivor at once so that he may question him personally. Jocasta sends the guards to fetch the survivor, who is now a herdsman living outside of the city. Once the guards have left, Oedipus is compelled to explain to his wife the reason he feels so concerned. His parents, King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth, once threw a banquet at which a drunken man shouted out that Oedipus was not the true child of the King and Queen. His parents vehemently denied this, but Oedipus remained curious. He went to Delphi to seek the truth from Apollo, but the god refused to answer his question. Instead, Apollo declared that he is fated to murder his father, marry his mother, and then have children with her. He could not allow this fate to happen so he fled from Corinth to try to circumvent his own destiny. In a cruel twist, his fleeing would lead him directly to his true father Laius, who also believed that he had outsmarted the gods. Still speaking to Jocasta, he describes an event that occurred at the same spot that she had just told him where Laius was murdered. He was walking toward that infamous crossroads when he saw a group of horses escorting a carriage with a man fitting Laius’ description sitting atop. As they approached, the man attempted to shove Oedipus off the road and in a flash of anger he attacked them back – killing them all in self-defense. Here, Oedipus is on the verge of discovering who he truly is, but there is one nagging fact that he cannot dismiss: the survivor claimed that it was a band of thieves – multiple people – so Oedipus thinks this may still be a coincidence. Nowhere in the previous conversation does the topic drift to saving his city. It has become a crusade to find his personal truth. He must find out if Apollo’s prophecy is, in fact, exactly as he said it would be. Jocasta decides that she must go to the temple of Apollo to pray for guidance. The chorus surrounds her as she places her incense on the altar, but the ceremony is interrupted by a herdsman carrying a message from Corinth. He tells Jocasta that Polybus the King is dead and the Corinthian citizens wish for Oedipus to return home and take the throne. Jocasta is actually encouraged by this news and rushes a servant to fetch Oedipus. Once he arrives, they both ironically rejoice at the news of Polybus’ death. He remarks to Jocasta that they were both foolish for believing in prophecies – he did not kill Polybus, therefore his fate is not as he thought. Oedipus still expresses worry about the other part of the prophecy: that he will lay with his mother and she will bear his children. He is flip-flopping between certainty and doubt, still giving some relevance to the gods and prophets. He soon will find out that his concern is not in vain. The messenger hears Oedipus and Jocasta’s discussion of his fears and the messenger asks if Oedipus will tell him what his concern is. Oedipus obliges and tells the messenger the destiny that Apollo has lain out for him. The messenger is confused by this and asks, “You are afraid of that? That kept you out of Corinth?” (1098-99). He elaborates to them that Polybus is not his biological father, nor Merope his biological mother. Oedipus was a gift to them, brought directly from the messenger’s hands so many years ago as an infant. A string of questions follow from Oedipus to the messenger and he discovers that he was found on Mount Cithaeron as a very young newborn and his feet were pinned and chained together. The last detail, that a shepherd who worked for Laius was the one who brought the infant to the messenger, causes Jocasta to turn away sharply. Here, the audience knows that Jocasta is fully aware that Apollo’s will has been done – Oedipus is her son. Oedipus asks that the chorus bring forth this herdsman and the leader explains that he is the same man that was previously sent for, the survivor on the attack on Laius’ caravan. Jocasta desperately begs Oedipus to leave the matter alone. She tells him that it will do him harm, it will ruin him, but she cannot convince him that continuing the interrogation will bring forth his demise – exactly as Apollo had planned it to. Jocasta gives up and flees into the palace crying & full of grief. She knows that her son/husband is about to find out what he really is. Oedipus is still oblivious when Jocasta makes her dramatic exit, believing that she is just being superficial because he may be from a humble background. The chorus and Oedipus are excited that they will soon know who his true parents are. They discuss and anticipate the situation until the shepherd finally arrives. The leader confirms that this is definitely one of Laius’ former men and then asks the messenger from Corinth if this is the same man who gave him the child, which he confirms. In the past, they both had herded their sheep near the mountain for many consecutive summers, so the messenger was very certain. Oedipus then interrogates the shepherd of Laius, but he refuses to answer initially acting extremely frightened. Only after Oedipus threatens the man with torture does he finally reveal that the baby was the son of Laius and that Jocasta had given the child to him with orders to kill it. She told him that the boy must be destroyed because of a terrible prophecy that Apollo had placed on Laius. The shepherd took pity on the child and gave it to the herdsman from Corinth to be raised as a prince. Realizing that Apollo’s prophecy for him had come true, Oedipus screams that he sees the light and his tragic identity has been revealed. He flees into the palace and the chorus mourns his destiny chanting, “is there a man more agonized? More wed to pain and frenzy?...O Oedipus, name for the ages – one and the same wide harbor served you, son and father both. Son and father came to rest in the same bridal chamber.” (1332-36).The chorus understands that Apollo’s words ring exactly true. They know that no mortal can deny his fate and Oedipus is living proof of that fact. A messenger exits the palace and informs the chorus that Queen Jocasta has committed suicide. Her guilt brought her to hang herself. He tells them that Oedipus burst in their bedchamber to find her hanging dead and sobbed with grief. Once he had brought her down from the noose, he removed her brooches and repeatedly brought them down, piercing his own eyes and blinding himself. By doing this, Oedipus brought one more prophecy true. Tiresias warned him:
The murderer of Laius – he is here. A stranger, you may think, who lives among you, he will soon be revealed a native Theban but he will take no joy in the revelation.
Blind who now has eyes, beggar who is now rich, he will grope his way toward a foreign soil, a stick tapping before him step by step. (512-19). Tiresias’ statement is also true in the fact that Oedipus will grope his way toward a foreign soil, because he will be exiled. Oedipus begs to be let out of the palace to show himself to the people. He has now firmly grasped the extent of his tragic fate. He screams to the chorus, “Apollo, friends, Apollo – he ordained my agonies – These, my pains on pains!” (1468-69). Creon soon enters and Oedipus begs him to send him into exile, fulfilling the final step of Apollo’s plan. Even to the end, the gods must be consulted before Creon will agree to order this. Oedipus cannot ever escape the will of the gods – Apollo has played his entire life like a chess piece and only he can decide Oedipus’ ultimate end – the exile he so desperately wants now. At the end of the play, Oedipus has not been banished yet, but Sophocles’ other works show that he eventually was exiled. The chorus enters after Creon and Oedipus are led back into the palace and the leave the audience with a final and morbid message that sums up Oedipus’ existence, “Now as we keep our watch and wait the final day, count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last” (1684-85). Apollo’s prophecy of Oedipus’ life is now complete.
Works Cited
Sophocles. “Oedipus the King.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford Books St Martin’s, 2013. 1442-84. Print
the city from her terror. His triumph over her has brought Oedipus much respect and admiration from the citizens. He married Jocasta, the former king’s wife, and she has yielded four children during their tenure together. After many years of peaceful rule, the city of Thebes has fallen victim to a ghastly plague that is killing crops, livestock, and many citizens. The play opens with the priests of Thebes coming to ask Oedipus for help. They beg him to save the city as he once had before. The priests believe that Apollo is punishing them and their prayers to him are not being heard. Oedipus, their intellectual and absolute ruler is the city’s only hope. Oedipus tells the priests that he knows their sorrow and he grieves with them, assuring the crowd that he is already seeking a solution. Displaying his deep respect of the gods, he has sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to consult the oracle at Delphi in order to decipher Apollo’s punishment and seek a solution. Creon returns with welcome news – Apollo will lift the plague if they “Drive the corruption from the land, don’t harbor it any longer.” (Line 109). They must banish or kill the man who murdered Laius, the former King of Thebes. Creon tells Oedipus that the king was murdered by a group of thieves at a crossing of three roads while he was traveling to consult an Oracle. Only one man from his entourage survived the attack, and upon returning to Thebes requested that he be allowed to live his days outside of the city because he still feared for his life. Oedipus is shocked to learn that the leaders did not pursue the matter further and find the king’s killer. Creon explains that the Sphinx was still terrorizing the city and they had to focus on the problem at hand. Once Oedipus had defeated the Sphinx and ascended the throne, the people believed that their troubles were over and the murder was soon a distant memory from a dark past. Oedipus give the impression that he is very displeased by this explanation and declares that he himself will avenge Laius’ murder – the first sign that Oedipus fate will be revealed in the near future. He asks the priests to summon all of the citizens so that he may give the news to everyone directly. The chorus enters filled with hope and dread. They praise the gods to no end, but are at the same time weary of them. They know that their fate lies directly in their hands. Oedipus enters from the palace and speaks to the chorus: “You pray to the gods? Let me answer your prayers.” (245). It appears that Sophocles is making a heavy point with this line. The Greeks did not boast that they were greater that the gods, to do so would surely bring retribution to that person and their house. Oedipus proclaiming that he can answer the peoples’ prayers is, therefore, blasphemous. Sophocles could have been using this scene as a tool to show the audience that such language angers the gods and will surely bring punishment; After all, Oedipus does lose his family, his throne, and his “life” on this day. Oedipus continues his speech to the chorus, explaining that the plague will be lifted once Laius’ murderer is brought to justice. He imposes a curse on the murderer, wishing that he “drag out his life in agony, step by painful step” (282-83). The audience knows that it is already predestined that this will happen to Oedipus, so it is even more ironic when Oedipus curses himself in lines 284-87. He speaks of Laius as well as his wife during this diatribe saying, “why, our seed might be the same, children born of the same mother might have created blood-bonds between us if his offspring had not met disaster (296-99). Sophocles has just made it crystal clear to the audience that Oedipus is completely ignorant of his situation and he has now set in motion a chain of events that will leave him in absolute ruin. Upon completion of his speech, the leader of the chorus explains that he is not the murderer, and no one can point him out, but he reminds Oedipus that Apollo has tasked them to banish or kill the man, not to also find him. Why not ask the god to reveal the murderer himself? Here Oedipus contradicts himself by stating, “Quite right, but to force the gods to act against their will – no man has the power” (318-20). Oedipus shifts between showing extreme confidence in himself, to showing blind faith in what the gods say. He has, after all, seemingly outwitted the gods once by running away from Corinth, but he also knows that his parents are still alive and that the prophecy may not be fulfilled yet. His personality leaves him room to still have doubt on the inside, but his confidence will not allow him to show that weakness to his people outwardly. When the leader suggests that they summon the blind prophet Tiresias, whom sees through Apollo’s eyes, Oedipus shows his egotism in full force: “I’ve not been slow with that…I sent the escorts twice, within the hour” (326-27). Oedipus is showing the people that he is certainly the right person to save the city – he has already set plans in motion before any other citizen can even fathom it. Once Tiresias enters, Oedipus showers him with compliments and then inquires about the prophecies of Apollo.
Tiresias is not flattered and immediately chastises him for being so foolish and ignorant. Oedipus becomes increasingly angry each time the prophet will not reveal what he knows and finally begins hurling insults at the old man. After quite a large quantity of verbal assault, Tiresias becomes enraged and he lets out the truth: Oedipus himself is the murderer, Jocasta is his mother as well as his wife, and he is the corruption that must be driven out of the land. Even though Oedipus knows Tiresias to be a true prophet of Apollo, his self-confidence prevents him from thinking and acting rationally at this point. In front of the entire city, Oedipus alleges that Creon sent the prophet to Thebes with that message in order to mislead the people and steal the throne from him. Oedipus is still ignoring the signs that things may not be as they seem to be. He is still brazenly pushing forward to seek the truth. The chorus is still confident in Oedipus because they deeply believe that the gods chose him to save Thebes from the Sphinx and he is destined to save them again. “We saw him with our own eyes, his skill, his brilliant triumph – there was the test – he was the joy of Thebes! Never will I convict my King, never in my heart”
(570-72). When Creon returns, he has evidently been informed of the charges brought against him and he and Oedipus begin to argue publicly. Jocasta finally intervenes and sends everyone away. She questions her husband about the altercation and scoffs when he explains that Tiresias declared he was Laius’ murderer. She tells him that this cannot be true because of the actions that she and her former husband took many years ago after an oracle of Apollo visited them with a prophecy. The oracle told Laius that he was fated to be murdered by his own son and then that son would marry his wife and she would bear her own son’s children. Laius circumvented this fate by having their three day old son killed. The newborn’s feet were pinned together and he was left to die on a barren mountaintop. She goes on to tell Oedipus that he has nothing to worry about because Laius had outsmarted the Oracle and then points to the fact that he was murdered by a band of thieves, certainly not his son. Perplexed, Oedipus continues questioning Jocasta as to the exact details of the murder. This line of questioning is the first occurrence that shows his doubt outwardly. She describes the timeline and details of the murder and Oedipus becomes legitimately worried that Tiresias’ accusation may be true. He asks Jocasta to summon the lone survivor at once so that he may question him personally. Jocasta sends the guards to fetch the survivor, who is now a herdsman living outside of the city. Once the guards have left, Oedipus is compelled to explain to his wife the reason he feels so concerned. His parents, King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth, once threw a banquet at which a drunken man shouted out that Oedipus was not the true child of the King and Queen. His parents vehemently denied this, but Oedipus remained curious. He went to Delphi to seek the truth from Apollo, but the god refused to answer his question. Instead, Apollo declared that he is fated to murder his father, marry his mother, and then have children with her. He could not allow this fate to happen so he fled from Corinth to try to circumvent his own destiny. In a cruel twist, his fleeing would lead him directly to his true father Laius, who also believed that he had outsmarted the gods. Still speaking to Jocasta, he describes an event that occurred at the same spot that she had just told him where Laius was murdered. He was walking toward that infamous crossroads when he saw a group of horses escorting a carriage with a man fitting Laius’ description sitting atop. As they approached, the man attempted to shove Oedipus off the road and in a flash of anger he attacked them back – killing them all in self-defense. Here, Oedipus is on the verge of discovering who he truly is, but there is one nagging fact that he cannot dismiss: the survivor claimed that it was a band of thieves – multiple people – so Oedipus thinks this may still be a coincidence. Nowhere in the previous conversation does the topic drift to saving his city. It has become a crusade to find his personal truth. He must find out if Apollo’s prophecy is, in fact, exactly as he said it would be. Jocasta decides that she must go to the temple of Apollo to pray for guidance. The chorus surrounds her as she places her incense on the altar, but the ceremony is interrupted by a herdsman carrying a message from Corinth. He tells Jocasta that Polybus the King is dead and the Corinthian citizens wish for Oedipus to return home and take the throne. Jocasta is actually encouraged by this news and rushes a servant to fetch Oedipus. Once he arrives, they both ironically rejoice at the news of Polybus’ death. He remarks to Jocasta that they were both foolish for believing in prophecies – he did not kill Polybus, therefore his fate is not as he thought. Oedipus still expresses worry about the other part of the prophecy: that he will lay with his mother and she will bear his children. He is flip-flopping between certainty and doubt, still giving some relevance to the gods and prophets. He soon will find out that his concern is not in vain. The messenger hears Oedipus and Jocasta’s discussion of his fears and the messenger asks if Oedipus will tell him what his concern is. Oedipus obliges and tells the messenger the destiny that Apollo has lain out for him. The messenger is confused by this and asks, “You are afraid of that? That kept you out of Corinth?” (1098-99). He elaborates to them that Polybus is not his biological father, nor Merope his biological mother. Oedipus was a gift to them, brought directly from the messenger’s hands so many years ago as an infant. A string of questions follow from Oedipus to the messenger and he discovers that he was found on Mount Cithaeron as a very young newborn and his feet were pinned and chained together. The last detail, that a shepherd who worked for Laius was the one who brought the infant to the messenger, causes Jocasta to turn away sharply. Here, the audience knows that Jocasta is fully aware that Apollo’s will has been done – Oedipus is her son. Oedipus asks that the chorus bring forth this herdsman and the leader explains that he is the same man that was previously sent for, the survivor on the attack on Laius’ caravan. Jocasta desperately begs Oedipus to leave the matter alone. She tells him that it will do him harm, it will ruin him, but she cannot convince him that continuing the interrogation will bring forth his demise – exactly as Apollo had planned it to. Jocasta gives up and flees into the palace crying & full of grief. She knows that her son/husband is about to find out what he really is. Oedipus is still oblivious when Jocasta makes her dramatic exit, believing that she is just being superficial because he may be from a humble background. The chorus and Oedipus are excited that they will soon know who his true parents are. They discuss and anticipate the situation until the shepherd finally arrives. The leader confirms that this is definitely one of Laius’ former men and then asks the messenger from Corinth if this is the same man who gave him the child, which he confirms. In the past, they both had herded their sheep near the mountain for many consecutive summers, so the messenger was very certain. Oedipus then interrogates the shepherd of Laius, but he refuses to answer initially acting extremely frightened. Only after Oedipus threatens the man with torture does he finally reveal that the baby was the son of Laius and that Jocasta had given the child to him with orders to kill it. She told him that the boy must be destroyed because of a terrible prophecy that Apollo had placed on Laius. The shepherd took pity on the child and gave it to the herdsman from Corinth to be raised as a prince. Realizing that Apollo’s prophecy for him had come true, Oedipus screams that he sees the light and his tragic identity has been revealed. He flees into the palace and the chorus mourns his destiny chanting, “is there a man more agonized? More wed to pain and frenzy?...O Oedipus, name for the ages – one and the same wide harbor served you, son and father both. Son and father came to rest in the same bridal chamber.” (1332-36).The chorus understands that Apollo’s words ring exactly true. They know that no mortal can deny his fate and Oedipus is living proof of that fact. A messenger exits the palace and informs the chorus that Queen Jocasta has committed suicide. Her guilt brought her to hang herself. He tells them that Oedipus burst in their bedchamber to find her hanging dead and sobbed with grief. Once he had brought her down from the noose, he removed her brooches and repeatedly brought them down, piercing his own eyes and blinding himself. By doing this, Oedipus brought one more prophecy true. Tiresias warned him:
The murderer of Laius – he is here. A stranger, you may think, who lives among you, he will soon be revealed a native Theban but he will take no joy in the revelation.
Blind who now has eyes, beggar who is now rich, he will grope his way toward a foreign soil, a stick tapping before him step by step. (512-19). Tiresias’ statement is also true in the fact that Oedipus will grope his way toward a foreign soil, because he will be exiled. Oedipus begs to be let out of the palace to show himself to the people. He has now firmly grasped the extent of his tragic fate. He screams to the chorus, “Apollo, friends, Apollo – he ordained my agonies – These, my pains on pains!” (1468-69). Creon soon enters and Oedipus begs him to send him into exile, fulfilling the final step of Apollo’s plan. Even to the end, the gods must be consulted before Creon will agree to order this. Oedipus cannot ever escape the will of the gods – Apollo has played his entire life like a chess piece and only he can decide Oedipus’ ultimate end – the exile he so desperately wants now. At the end of the play, Oedipus has not been banished yet, but Sophocles’ other works show that he eventually was exiled. The chorus enters after Creon and Oedipus are led back into the palace and the leave the audience with a final and morbid message that sums up Oedipus’ existence, “Now as we keep our watch and wait the final day, count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last” (1684-85). Apollo’s prophecy of Oedipus’ life is now complete.
Works Cited
Sophocles. “Oedipus the King.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford Books St Martin’s, 2013. 1442-84. Print