Oedipus Essay

Oedipus Oedipus Rex written by Sophocles provides readers with a tragic tale of mystery. In Oedipus’ quest to search for the murderer of the slain king, Laius, whose death has brought disdain to the land of Thebes, Oedipus begins to unravel a whole new mystery altogether, the mystery of his life and origins. In the crumbling city of Thebes, the citizens have sought out the help of Oedipus because of the death of their king, Laius. They believe that the murder of Laius is what has brought the wide spread weighing down of the city’s prosperity. “We must banish or murder to free ourselves from a murder that blows storms through the city.” (pg. 1308) And so, with this event, Oedipus begins his investigation to seek out Laius’ murderer. The mysterious aspect of this introduction is that readers will begin to ask the question of who is behind the murder of Laius. Another instance of mystery is when Oedipus speaks with the oracle, Tiresias, who he tries to get the truth from, but ends up in a quarrel and Oedipus’ nature coming out (narrow mindedness). Oedipus seeks out help from Tiresias but is unable to process anything useful because he lets his anger get to the best of him. As readers, we begin to question the truth of the murder because of some details that Tiresias mentions during the argument about Oedipus. “…for you are the vile polluter of this land!” (pg. 1314) Of course, Oedipus does not fully realize the power and significance of these words while readers begin to unravel a new mystery, Oedipus’ role in Laius’ murder. When Oedipus is speaking with Jocasta after becoming irrationally angry with Creon and Tiresias, she begins to speak about her disbelief in prophecies and Oedipus begins to put a few pieces of the puzzle together. She talks about the details of Lauis’ death while he begins to add up the events in his head. We as readers begin to question Oedipus’ involvement in the murder and connect the events with the prophecy of his fate to kill his