Oedipus the King Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Oedipus the King - Essay Example The actual story line of the play is not at all new to the audience. Sophohocles was impressed by the ancient story of Oedipus Rex and, though with some variations, he brought this dramatic irony to the audience with a strong message of inevitable fate. The writer grabs every opportunity to make the best use of this dramatic irony as the most impactful scenes of the play can only create the difference when the audience is already aware of the basic story line. Oedipus, the man of great insight, mostly discusses the blindness and sight in the play, which makes it a dramatic irony. Audience is well informed about the fact that it is the Oedipus who is not aware regarding the reality of his life that is held responsible for his decline. In the play, Oedipus said to the priest about the dying and damaging condition of Thebes that he is very much aware, although he was actually not: †I pity you. I see-how could I fail to see What longings bring you here? Well I know† (70-71) O edipus makes all the conscious efforts to unveil the reality and knows about the truth but the audience perceives that he is just a mere puppet in the hands of pre-written fate. The irony at some places makes the audience believe that Oedipus willingly brings the disastrous condition upon him by uncovering the reality. Another example is when Oedipus said: â€Å"You should have searched. ... Oedipus’s efforts to know his own identity and to change the determined fate represent the main idea behind the play, but it is the bitter reality that fate cannot be changed by the humans and, therefore, the reality makes the Oedipus an example of pity and fear. In the beginning, the fine characteristics of Oedipus make the audience feel like he is the most desirable leader who wants to free his nation from the plague. He becomes the king of Thebes by answering the riddle of Sphinx. The citizens of Thebes are now falling dead, the crops are getting withered, women and newborns are dying because of the plague. The inhabitants of Thebes want to get relieved from this curse by gathering around and praying to God. Oedipus calls the priest to know the reason of the gathering and gets an answer to save Thebes from dying. Being sorrowed, he asks his brother in law Creon to go to Delphic oracle to get the answer of how to control this plague. Creon comes with an answer from the oracl e to eliminate the corruption from Thebes and also narrates that murderer of the former king Laius is in Thebes, which means finding and killing the murderer will restore peace in the city. He further tells Oedipus about the murder of Laius that there is only one person alive in the attack who has mentioned that the king was murdered by a group of thieves. On asking the reason for slow investigation, Creon gives the reason that due to the tension caused by riddle of Sphinx they were unable to focus on solving the murder issue. In this way, Oedipus takes the stand to find out the real murderer to remove the plague. He is determined to punish the culprit even if he