Oedipus the King

Oedipus the King short essay

The character of Oedipus is introduced to the reader in the beginning of the tragedy.

His first speech has shown his self-assurance and to certain extent arrogance. It is for sure that the king had some reasons to be proud of himself, as he once saved the city and people loved and respected him as a ruler. One may say that such feeling of self-importance makes person short sighted and create some difficulties on serving the common goal as it has happened in Oedipus the King, when Oedipus preferred to solve all the problems himself and disregarded opinions of others. This was shown in the episodes when Oedipus promised to find the person guilty in city’s epidemics by himself, when he disregarded the opinion of Teiresias even though he was known as a very wise man, and even in the episode when Oedipus made himself blind punishing himself for the old crime instead of listening to other’s judgment and waiting for their verdict. The arrogance of the king served the worst advisor to him as it made Oedipus too reluctant to help of his friends and relatives. Being sure that he can cope by himself with predicted destiny, Oedipus discovered that there are things in the world that are more powerful than he is and took the course of actions which made the prophecy come true, made the crime of patricide and incest take place, caused the anger of gods and plague in the city, and finally ruined the lives of his numerous children and Oedipus himself.

This is also true that even though Oedipus was arrogant

thought a lot of himself and wanted to concentrate all power in his own hands, yet he deserved such power from the point of view that till the last minute he held himself responsible to anything he has done or said. The arrogance made Oedipus very responsible for any of his actions as he simply could not find the person more wise or powerful than he to seek for advice or make that person responsible for certain decisions. Believing in own perfection and unwillingness to prove the opposite is probably the main reason why the king has never given false promises or did things he felt were wrong, immoral or unlawful. This was also the reason why the king tended to blame himself. He felt very responsible for family and for city and this was impossible for him to realize that he was powerless in some situations. From the point of view of observer this is seen that even though the terrible crime of patricide took place in his life, yet it is hard to blame Oedipus for it because he was not aware of what he was doing. However the king had another opinion and did not want neither to hold responsible anyone else nor to believe in own feebleness. Even though all Oedipus life was predetermined with a prophecy, the king still did not want to hold neither destiny nor gods responsible for what has happened. The only person he blamed was himself. It was the combination of self assurance, arrogance and nobleness which made Oedipus to feel responsible even for things that he has done unpremeditatedly. This feeling was to strong that Oedipus could not break the promise of killing or banishing the person guilty for what was happening in the city even when he realized that he was that guilty one. This is hard to determine now whether this feeling of responsibility was good or bad. On the one hand Oedipus showed himself a very noble and courageous in showing this trait of his, but on the other hand such excessive feeling of responsibility left his children orphans and ruined his own life and lives of others forever.

It is possible that Oedipus was really severe ruler

but this is also true that he was also very severe to himself. Being very assured in own perfection and virtue it was hard for Oedipus to forgive own mistakes and he actually did not forgive. Being responsible for all he did intentionally or unintentionally Oedipus accepted punishment for all crimes and mistakes even though other people may have felt that the punishment of making the king blind and banishing him was too severe. One may call the king not only severe but also cruel and irascible. This trait was the one to cause him to kill all the servants of Laius and Laius himself, this also caused the quarrel with Creon and Theiresias and this made him want to punish the servant who didn’t want to reveal the truth about Oedipus’s childhood. This way the cruelty of Oedipus played it’s role in the tragedy of his life but one must realize that even in this situation the kind did not go against his nature and always felt accountable for what he did under the influence of anger.

On the other hand Oedipus's self assurance and anger

did not go far enough to prevent him from realizing own mistakes. This was shown in the episode when the king realized that he was wrong in blaming Creon for betrayal and when he asked the brother of his wife to forgive him and even blessed Creon. This is obvious that Oedipus had strong beliefs about justice, values and truth. Believing is his righteousness the king did some mistakes like suspecting and willing to punish innocent people. However, neither of his deeds went against his beliefs or moral values. This is possible that Oedipus was in conflict with gods, destiny, and family, yet he has never been in conflict with himself.

Unfortunately, as the story shows us, this is not always enough to do what you feel is right to do

but it is also important that you know what to consider right. This is the greatest mistake that Oedipus made while being so self assured, arrogant, and proud of himself. These traits made him ignorant to searching for truth and righteousness elsewhere than in himself and finally this lead to the ruination of city, family and lives. However, even in the end, when realized that he was the cause of all sorrows, this great ruler did not renounce own beliefs and had enough strength to take all the responsibility for what he has done intentionally or unintentionally, and punish himself more than anyone could punish. In this deed lie his strength and weakness, his arrogance and care for all, his pride and his ability to accept own mistakes, his greatness and misery.

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