Claudia Arevalo-Lowe

English 102

August 10, 1998

While reading "Oedipus the King" two questions come to mind. The first one is that of faith and the second one is that of Oedipus committing a crime. It is important to attempt to determine how important faith was in Oedipus’ life, and how responsible he was for the crime of killing his father and sleeping with his mother.

At birth, Oedipus’ life was determined by the prophecy given to Laios and Iocaste by "not Phoibos himself, but from his appointed ministers" that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother. Later on the play, it is learned what the prophecy is and how it affected Oedipus’ life because of his parents’ reaction to the prophecy.

Iocaste tells a grown Oedipus what happened: "An oracle was reported to Laios once. . .That his doom would be death at the hands of his own son-his son, born of his flesh and of mine!" Iocaste then proceeded to tell Oedipus what the King’s solution was. "This child had not been three days in this world before the King had pierced the baby’s ankles and left him to die on a lonely mountainside." Based on this oracle alone Laios and Iocaste formulated the plan of killing their newborn son.

When Thebes is "tossed on a murdering sea and can not lift her head from the death surge." Oedipus sent Creon "to Delphi, Apollo’s place of revelation" to seek the answer and solution to their problems. In the eyes of the people faith was what ruled their lives as evidenced by the chorangos echoing to Oedipus that "there is one man who may detect the criminal. . .this is the holy prophet in whom, alone of all men, truth was born." The people were referring to Teiresias. When brought to Oedipus’ presence, Teiresias refuses to tell Oedipus and the people of Thebes who Laios’ killer was even though he knew who the guilty party was.

Further evidence of Oedipus’ belief in faith is found when he went to Delphi looking for answers after he found out from a drunken guest that he was not Polybos and Merope’s son. Because he did not learn the truth while at Delphi, Oedipus left home and went "to a land where he should never see the evil."

There were alternatives to the Oracle given to Laios and Iocaste. Instead of trying to kill the child, they could have raised him with him fully knowing the prophecy and when he became an adult, send him away. Furthermore, Laios and Iocaste did not ensure that the child was dead. They gave the child to a shepherd who felt sorry for the child and instead of leaving him to die, gave him to someone else.

The shepherd to whom Iocaste handed the baby was also given the order to leave "him to die on a lonely mountainside." Years later, when Oedipus asked him why he did not carry out the orders, he answered "I pitied the baby, my King." As a consequence to the shepherd’s action, Oedipus grew up as a Prince thanks to the compassion and loneliness of Polybos and Merope, who being childless took into their homes a child who was not perfectly healthy and needed extraordinary care and love, not only to heal the physical wounds but the psychological ones as well. The contrast between the biological and adoptive parents is worth mentioning as the adoptive parents gave Oedipus the love and shelter of a loving family.

It came to pass that Oedipus learned from the drunken guest that he was not Polybos’ son and with "anger and a sinking heart" confronted Polybos and Merope with what he had learned. They denied the allegations. If they had doted on Oedipus it is possible that they denied the allegations in an attempt to protect him.

Oedipus in doubt as to his origin "wandered farther and farther. . .to a land where he should never see the evil" without knowing that he was the object of evil at birth. While running away from home, Oedipus went to the Shrine at Delphi and even though he did not get the answers he wanted, he did get enough clues as to his future. While at Delphi, he was told that he "should be with his own mother, breed children. . .and that he should be his father’s murderer." Moreover, these clues were a warning that the danger was not over. He was warned to be careful.

After the experience at Delphi, Oedipus was despondent. On his way to Thebes he came across "three highways coming together..." and on these three highways coming together, he encountered a group of individuals who were traveling opposite him. As Oedipus felt that the people he encountered mistreated him, killed them in anger. But he missed one, and the one he missed went back to Thebes to reported "that a band of highwaymen attacked them." Based on this evidence, Oedipus committed murder. Not only he killed his father but he also killed his father’s party.

In the same manner that there was an alternative to faith, there was an alternative to this event. Oedipus could have gotten off the road and let the party go on. Oedipus could have prevented a lot of misery to himself, his mother, and the people of Thebes by thinking before killing his father and his father’s men.

When Oedipus learned from the messenger and from the shepherd the truth about those he considered his parents, his world collapsed and he committed one more crime: self-mutilation. In horror and after his mother/wife hung herself, Oedipus "ripped from her gown the golden brooches. . .and raised them, and plunged them down straight into his eyeballs. . .not once, but many times."

When it came down to faith dealing Oedipus a bad hand, it can be argued that Laios and Iocaste are the ones who dealt him the bad hand as they could have handled the situation differently, and thereby, they could have contributed preventing Oedipus from committing murder and incest. Even though it may not be possible to handle and to predict life, it is always wiser to respond to it instead of reacting to it.