How far should Oedipus as represented in the Oedipus Rex be regarded as an insolent tyrant who not only deserved but aggravated his own fate?

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Matthew Belcher

How far should Oedipus as represented in the Oedipus Rex be regarded as an insolent tyrant who not only deserved but aggravated his own fate?

Oedipus the King is regarded as having one of the greatest theatrical plots of all the Greek plays.  The story of Oedipus, the man who killed his Father and married his Mother, would have been a very old story in Sophocles’ time which everyone would have known, but because of his skill at creating suspense, as the answers often right in front of Oedipus as well as creating pity and even fear for Oedipus as he slowly finds out the truth, the play goes down as a great dramatic masterpiece.  Therefore it is imperative that the character of Oedipus is examined closely as he is clearly not a one dimensional character.  He begins the play as a wise intelligent man who cares about his people with a willingness to act.  He ends the play as a blind, weak man who had gradually become impatient and somewhat self obsessed.  He jumps to conclusions quickly blaming Creon for Laius’ death and concluding that Creon must be working with the Oracle to hatch a plot to gain the throne of Thebes; this turns out to be entirely fictional.  However despite these switches between positive and negative virtues he doesn’t deserve his fate of marrying his Mother and killing his Father.  The gods have seemingly been conspiring against him since before he was born for him to have such a terrible fate.  However, he is guilty of aggravating his fate, continually damming himself in his speeches and continually pushing people such as the Oracle and the Shepard, who do not want to give up their information because of fear of what might happen if they do.  The phrase ‘insolent tyrant’ is going too far as he clearly wants to help his people and in the end leaving the city making a big sacrifice in order to help his people rid themselves of the plague.

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The first question to answer is whether or not Oedipus was an insolent tyrant, which means selfish leader who is only doing things for personal gain and does not care what happens to his people.  We can go right to the beginning of the play to look at his leadership skills.  The priest’s pleas to Oedipus to help his people get rid of the plague as he did once before.  The priest uses phrases to describe Oedipus such as ‘our greatest power’, ‘we do rate you first of men’ and quotes the story to the Sphinx.  Oedipus’s reaction to ...

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