Sophocles' "Oedipus the King" is a tragic play which discusses
the tragic discovery of Oedipus that he has killed his father and
married his mother. The story of Oedipus was well known to the
athenian's. Oedipus is the embodiement of the perfect Athenian. He is
self-confident, intelligent, and strong willed. Ironically these are
the very traits which bring about his tragic discovery. Oedipus gained
the rule of Thebes by answering the riddle of Sphinx. Sophocles used
the riddle of the sphinx as a metaphor for the 3 phases of Oedipus'
life and to futher characterized him as a tragic man.
The Sphinx posed the following riddle to all who came to obtain
the rule of thebes: "What is it that walks on 4 feet and 2 feet
and 3 feet and has only one voice, when it walks on most feet it is
the weakest?" Oedipus correctly answered "Man" and became the king of
Thebes. This riddle is a metaphor for the life of Oedipus. As a child
man crawls on his hands and knees this is the four feet to which the
Sphinx refers. Also man is at his weakest as a small child. He depends
solely on others for his nourishment and well being. Oedipus was the
child of Jocasta and King Laius who was taken to the mountain by a
shepard to be killed so the omen of the god apollo that Laius' son
would kill him and lay with Jocasta would not come true. Oedipus was
the weakest of his life at this point. If it has not been for the
shepard spairing his life and giving him to Polybus to raise as his
Man walks on 2 feet when he has matured. This is a metaphor for
Oedipus when he reaches adulthood and leaves Corinth to escape the
oracle. Oedipus meets up with a band of travelers and in a rage kills
them. Inadvertently Oedipus has killed his own father. Oedipus then
answers the riddle of the sphinx and becomes king of Thebes. By
becoming king of Thebes he marries Jocasta the Queen of thebes an
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