Oedipus Rex Paper

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Sara Saurman
Mrs. Jones
AP Literature Period 4
25 October, 2014

While enduring a journey of self­knowledge to discover the mystery of king Laius's murder, main character Oedipus comes to discover the inescapability of fate enduring obstacles which lead him back to his destiny.

After fleeing Corinth in fear of the prophecy's statement that Oedipus's fate would be

to marry his mother and kill his father, Oedipus killed a group of men in self defense at a crossroad. Not long after, he arrived to Thebes. With the king being recently murdered, the townspeople looked to Oedipus for a sense of guidance. Also having defeated the sphinx,
Oedipus was awarded the royal throne and the queen as his wife. Unaware that he was following the path of his fate, Oedipus was in denial when Tiresias attempted to tell Oedipus of the truth which he was fulfilling. This amount of irony is significant due to the fact that
Tiresias is blind yet has the ability to see the truth at play. Ironically, when Oedipus unraveled the truth that he had followed his fate he blinds himself with pins from Jocasta, his wife and mother's dress. This ultimately proves the saying "the truth will set you free, but first make you miserable", in that Oedipus got closure and disgust out of discovering King Laius's death.
Although this truth was not one bit comforting or much of freedom, Oedipus definitely felt the misery which the truth held for him.

In pursuit of freedom from his predicted destiny, no matter what he
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