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Oedipus does not show unusual arrogance, no more so than his father did when he abandoned his child to cheat death. Oedipus leaves his natural parents out of a desire to protect them, as any son possessing filial pity should do, in the eyes of the Greeks.
However, in contrast to the Christian economy of good and evil, where good is rewarded and evil is punished by God, in ancient Greece: "The gods frequently interfere physically and psychically in human affairs (bringing on, for example, madness, illnesses, unusual acts of courage or folly, natural disasters, untimely death, and so on), but there is nothing consistent about these interactions, and they may or may not take place, no matter how many times the human beings offer sacrifices or prayers" (Johnson, 2007). Fate in "Oedipus Rex" is arbitrary, and Oedipus' terrible punishment has nothing to do with his uniquely terrible status as a human being. Oedipus is fallible, but not evil.
One of the greatest horrors of Oedipus' fate, however, is not simply that he kills his father but that he marries his mother. He thus is also fated to become a slave to female desire and female words, as the Oracle of Delphi who foretold his fate was traditionally represented as a female figure. Oedipus was filled with confidence that he had triumphed over femininity, because he vanquished the Sphinx, a monster with a female head, by solving her riddle. At the end of the play Oedipus is seen as entirely enwrapped in the influence of women. He blinds himself with his mother and wife's pins, and his last scene on stage shows him saying good-bye to his...
He kills the figure he should respect most, namely his father. Thus, Oedipus' destiny is the most horrible destiny an ancient Greek man could conceive of, and he is powerless to stop it. His arrogance is not unique, but simply human, as the play suggests all human beings are apt to be blind to their lack of control over the world, and how the gods are often deaf to human entreaties. Only by suffering does Oedipus gain his unique insight, but like the prophet Tiresias, he must lose his sight to do so and become both a parricide and a pariah.
Works Cited
Johnson, Ian. "Fate, Freedom, and the Tragic Experience: An Introductory Lecture on Sophocles's 'Oedipus the King.'" Lecture last revised in August 2004. 5 May 2007. http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/introser/oedipus.htm
Johnson, Ian. "Some Preliminary Observations on Classical Greek Literature."
Lecture last revised in Feb 2006. 5 May 2007. http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/clas101/observations.htm
Pontikis, Nick. "King Oedipus." The Myth Man. 1988. 5 May 2007. http://thanasis.com/oedipus.htm
Roisman, Hanna. "Tiresias, the Seer of Oedipus the King." Leeds International Classical
Studies. 2003:5. 5 May 2007. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/classics/lics/2003/200305.pdf
Works Cited
Johnson, Ian. "Fate, Freedom, and the Tragic Experience: An Introductory Lecture on Sophocles's 'Oedipus the King.'" Lecture last revised in August 2004. 5 May 2007. http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/introser/oedipus.htm
Johnson, Ian. "Some Preliminary Observations on Classical Greek Literature."
Lecture last revised in Feb 2006. 5 May 2007. http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/clas101/observations.htm
Pontikis, Nick. "King Oedipus." The Myth Man. 1988. 5 May 2007. http://thanasis.com/oedipus.htm
Studies. 2003:5. 5 May 2007. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/classics/lics/2003/200305.pdf
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