Oedipus1

A detailed Summary of Oedipus1

In Oedipus the King it is made quite clear by Sophocles that trying to defy your fate is pointless and only results in your fate coming to pass whether you like it or not. The first example of the pointlessness of trying to defy your fate is that of Laius. One day Laius, Oedipus' true father, was confronted by an oracle of Apollo. This oracle said that "doom would strike him down at the hands of a son". When Jocasta, his wife, gave birth to a son, Laius, believing he could defy the prediction of Apollo's oracle, ordered that his newborn son be put to death. He gave the child to Jocasta and she gave the child to a servant in the castle, telling him to bind the baby and leave him on a far hill to die. The child was bound and taken by the servant but the servant could not bare to leave the child to die. The servant found a shepherd in a nearby field and gave him the child to care for and hoped that no one would find out what he had done. Many years later, long after the events with the Laius' child had taken place, Laius set out on a journey. He came to fork in the road and at this fork he and his men ran into a stranger. Laius and his men became involved in an argument with this stranger and the stranger became so a

Oedipus, Laius' presumed dead son, is the second example of the pointlessness of trying to defy your fate. Oedipus was raised in Corinth as a prince, believing he was the son of King Polybus and Queen Merope. One day Oedipus set off on a journey to Dephi to seek the word of the oracle on what the future held for him. He arrived at Delphi and was informed by the oracle of his inevitable fate. The oracle told him: "You are fated to couple with your mother, you will breed of children into the light no man can bear to see-you will kill your father, the one who gave you life!". Upon hearing this, Oedipus fled Delphi and vowed never to return to Corinth so that he could not murder his beloved father and marry his mother. On his journey away from home, Oedipus ran into a group of men at a fork in the rode. Oedipus and these men argued and he became so angry he murdered them. Continuing on his way, Oedipus then ran into the horrible Sphinx that was terrorizing the city of Thebes. He defeated the Sphinx's riddle and saved the city of Thebes. The people of the city were very grateful and asked Oedipus if he would marry their recently widowed Queen, Jocasta, and become king of Thebes. He agreed and Jocasta and Oedipus went on to have four

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Approximate Word count = 846
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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Oedipus1

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