Symbolism In Oedipus The King

It seems as if only the gods could be blamed for the tragic ending of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. How could one not blame them, for they placed a prophecy on the king, his wife and their son, sending them to their dreadful doom. Perhaps there is more to be seen in this famous Greek tragedy. Perhaps the blame does not belong completely to the gods, but to the victims of the prophecy. Sophocles exemplifies this throughout the play using methods of symbolism, actions and words.

From the get go of the prophecy, things weren’t well. Once king Laius and his wife Jocasta were told that their son would become their destruction, and they could not let this become a reality; “An oracle came to Laius one fine day (I won’t say from Apollo himself but
It was said that King Laius was murdered at a place where three roads meet; “A place called Phocis, where two branching roads, one from Daulia, one from Delphi, come together – a crossroads,” (Sophocles, p. 202). The crossroads are a big symbol in showing how people always have a choice. The gods and their prophecy were not all to blame because in the end, Oedipus had the freedom to make choices, which would lead to a faith only he could choose. When coming at the crossroads and meeting his father and the king, he became angry and murdered him on the road. He made the choice right then and there to use violence to meet his ends and to kill someone just because they wouldn’t move. The symbolism is made greater with the street names. The road Delphi, named after the Oracle of Delphi signifies the gods and their prophecy and the terrible doom that brings with it. So one could say he had the choice to pick between then regular road named Daulia, or the other, named Delphi, which in turn symbolized the choice to step forth to his destiny. “… the finest tragedies never show good men being crushed by destinies that they could not have avoided. To believe in tragedies of fate, according to Dodds and to many others, is worse even than to believe in a tragic flaw.” (Gould). In this famous Greek tragedy, there was nothing up to fate and everything up to
First, Oedipus calls upon the blind prophet Tiresias and asks who is the killer of the king. Tiresias tells him “I say you are the murderer you hunt,” (Sophocles, p. 180). Oedipus has been told flat out that he is to be blamed and brushes it off, with force. Later on, he asks his own wife Jocasta about the timing of the death; “The heralds no sooner reported Laius dead than you appeared and they hailed you king of Thebes,” (Sophocles, p. 202). Once again, facts are being thrown in his face and he can’t seem to add them up. Not only this, but he also seems to know within him that he is in fact the perpetrator. Throughout the tragedy, people keep telling him about how the king was killed by a band of thieves. “A thief, so daring, so wild, he’d kill a king?” (Sophocles, p. 166). Oedipus, like in the example shown, keeps answering statements about a number of thieves with the singular form of one perpetrator. This shows that he knows subconsciously that this all goes back to him. How is it that he can’t seem to piece together the puzzle when he is the best man to do so, as shown by Tiresias’ statement; “Ah, but aren’t you the best man alive at solving riddles? (Sophocles, p.184). He is so smart that he became king for saving a whole city that needed a man of his talents, but when it comes to saving his own life, it seems he cannot live up to his expectations.

Sophocles