Fear In Oedipus

In the Athenian tragedy, Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Oedipus, the King of Thebes, unintentionally fulfills a horrid prophecy as he searches for a killer in his kingdom. Only the readers know the truth behind the true killer in this game of cat and mouse. Oedipus searches for the truth only to find out the person he was looking for the whole time was himself. As a result of his unspeakable crime, Oedipus blinds himself and relinquishes his title of King. Although a brief event in a long problematic story, Oedipus’ act of blinding himself symbolizes a much larger and significant theme.
Being a significant event in the play, Oedipus’ act of blinding himself symbolizes his encounter with the truth. Prior to blinding himself, Oedipus was looking for the killer of Laius, the last King of Thebes. To search for the killer, Oedipus questioned and interrogated many characters. One such character that Oedipus interrogated was Tiresias, a blind prophet. Oedipus’ arrogance prevents him from taking …show more content…
A similar fear found throughout the story is the fear of family. We all view are parents as supportive and loving but not to the point that things become intimate or outright violent. Readers are supposed to be grossed out by the interactions between Oedipus, Jocasta, and Laius. But the worse part of all is that Oedipus had no idea that he killed his father and married his mother. This story intertwines the two fears creating a really messed up play. Even early psychologist Sigmund Freud based one of his theories of the Athenian play. The Oedipus Complex is a Freudian theory that has similar concepts as the theme of Sophocles’ play. Freud states in it that in a young children early years he will develop sexual intimacy with one parent while trying to exclude the other one of the same sex. Over time these relations should subside in a mentally healthy