Oedipus the Innocent
...e displays his sincerity of his intentions. Oedipus was lied to throughout his life and was born with a curse. He was originally sent to die by his father who also feared a prophecy. He was raised by the queen and king of Corinth who never told him about his true identity. Oedipus had believed all his life that he was the prince of Corinth and left his home city after he learned of the prophecy. By lying to a person all their life to believe something that isn’t true, who could blame Oedipus for making the mistake that he did make. Because Oedipus’s morals were intended to be good, he is clearly innocent. “His speeches are full of words, phrases and attitudes that link him with the “enlightenment” of Sophocles’ own Athens.” (Knox pg. 142, line 6) What is a moral? The dictionary describes it as: “Of or concerned with the judgment of the goodness or badness of human action and character” (www.dictionary.com, word: moral) I interpret the definition as being good or bad. A person with good moral values is well liked by many in our society and we frown upon people with bad morals. The definition defines Oedipus’s character throughout the legend and the play. Even when Oedipus finally realized he had completed his fate, he did not want to harm anyone else any longer. He wanted Creon, his brother in law, to outcast him from Thebes forever, this action shows that he cares for others and is not selfish. Oedipus: “Drive me out of the land at once, far from sight, where I can never hear a human voice.” (Sophocles pg. 245 line 1571)This shows how his character and actions are morally good. No matter how torturous Oedipus’s life was, he only cared about the lives of others and sacrificed his own wealthy life as king, to be an outcast from his kingdom to save the city. Although my position on Oedipus proves that he is morally innocent, there are some people that would say, in another perspective, he is technically guilty. Some reasons for this would be that Oedipus did kill his father and married his mother. These reasons alone on paper without any explanation would prove that Oedipus is guilty. Murder is morally wrong, and this is what Oedipus had done when he killed Laius. Marrying your own mother is also morally wrong and sick. Oedipus himself even admits he is guilty when he learns about the prophecy becoming true. Oedipus: “O god- all come true, all burst to light! O light-now let me look my last on you! I stand revealed at last- cursed in my birth, cursed in marriage, cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands!” (Sophocles pg. 232 line 1306) The last two phrases refer to his marriage to Jocasta, his mother, and Laius his father whom he killed. Oedipus unintentionally killed his father, but murder is still murder and he is guilty of that. Another way to look at Oedipus’s guiltiness is that he was prophesized to kill his father and marry his mother. This means that Oedipus by being alive, is guilty because according to fate, he is destined to go through with what he is prophesized to do. Sophocles uses this specific idea to portray sin by all humans. Humans are basically destined to sin. “(as he clams all humanity is) by the contradiction between our free will and God’s fore-knowledge that we will sin.” (Knox pg.145, paragraph 2). This shows that Oedipus’s life is a sin and therefore he is guilty for living. I believe that Oedipus was born innocent, but with a guilty burden he had to carry throughout his life. He did not intend to kill his own father, nor marry his mother, because he himself knew these things were wrong. Oedipus ultimately avoided what the prophecy said he would fulfill, but in the end he was caught when he went through with the...