Oedipus Rex A High Tragedy

Oedipus is the definition of nobility being noble by both birth and character. He is born in to royalty as he is the son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes. Soon his father, King Laius, hears of a prophecy that states his son would grow up and kill him. To prevent this horrific fate from happening Oedipus is brought to the wilderness to be left for dead but as fate has it a passing shepherd finds baby Oedipus. The shepherd brings Oedipus to Corinth to be adopted by King Polybus and Queen Merope. Here Oedipus is raised a noble prince, unknown of his real noble lineage in Thebes.

Oedipus makes a mistake of miscalculation that is a mere intellectual fault, not an immoral one. When Oedipus is told the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother he soon fleas Corinth. Oedipus is oblivious to the fact that Polybus and Merope are not his biological family. Oedipus’s mistake lies in leaving Corinth for Thebes, by doing this Oedipus and his real father Laius unfold their destinies and cross paths. Not long after Oedipus kills Laius not aware that he is the King of Thebes or his real biological father.

Oedipus experiences a moment of recognition in which he is aware of his mistake and can anticipate, as a result of this recognition, the force of his destiny. After Iocaste tells Oedipus of Laius’s oracle Iocaste states “thus, Apollo never caused that child to kill his father, and it was not Laius’ fate to die at the hands of his son, a he had feared….It is god himself who can show us what he wills in his own way” (line 195-200). At that point of the play Oedipus realizes what he has done. “How strange a shadowy memory crossed my mind just now while you were speaking; it chilled my heart” (line 201-202) for that oracle connected with the one he was once told. Oedipus’s recognition is based on logic alone; because he connects the pieces of his fate like a puzzle.

Oedipus has his fortunes reversed and suffers extreme misfortune after he meets with the shepherd and the truth is reviled to everyone that Oedipus in fact killed King Laius, his father, and married the woman who “was not his wife, the mother whose womb had carried his own children and himself” (line 33). When this terrible tragedy is revealed, Oedipus’s mother Laius commits suicide by the same bed Oedipus was conceived, soon after Oedipus burst in the chambers and witnesses the horrible scene that the gods have planed for him, being too much to bear he gouges his eyes with Jocasta’s