Sorey

Annie Sorey

Professor Eric Eichenlaub

Literature and Criticism

28 January 2018

Oedipus and his Conflicts

Oedipus seems like he has an overwhelming amount of conflicts. There are many

different kinds of conflict that Oedipus go through, including man versus man, man versus

nature, man versus self, and man versus environment. However, a strong conflict in Oedipus the

King is man versus fate.

Arguably, the main conflicts of Oedipus Rex are Oedipus vs. Oedipus and Oedipus

versus fate. Oedipus is fighting against himself throughout the play. “I count myself the son of

Chance, the great goddess, giver of all good things-I’ll never see myself disgraced.” (Oedipus

1188-1190) This quote is before Oedipus has any concern about his future. Consistently,

Oedipus rejects the idea could be the fate he was given by the Prophet, Teiresias. Having too

much pride to see that Teiresias is knowledgeable, he casts his thoughts aside. When Oedipus

asks his wife about her child she “killed” and asked a herdsman about a baby he discovered,

Oedipus obviously knows something is wrong, but is strongly denying his fate. To Oedipus’s

defense, it must be difficult to realize you have killed your birth father and married your mother.

Once Oedipus comes to this final conclusion, he can not bare to know what he has done, so he

blinds himself. He can not be blind to the truth anymore, so he tries to externally portray that. It

is no secret that Oedipus is very self absorbed, and is short tempered. Because of this, he kills

his father without even knowing what he had done.

 Sorey

Oedipus tries very hard to flee from his tragic fate, and while doing this, it is actually

causing his fate. After Apollo tells him his fate, he leaves Corinth. While on the way to Thebes,

because of his short temper, he fights with travelers and kills Laius who is his father. When he is

the King of Thebes, a plague covers the area, and the oracle says the plague will go away once

the Laius’ killer is condemned. Oedipus seeks out the killer, not even knowing it is him. This

shows how powerful fate is, and that the gods are stronger than humans. “I curse myself as

well…if by any chance he proves to be an intimate of our house” (Oedipus, 284-285) Oedipus is

actually cursing himself. It is an ironic quote he is talking about because he is the criminal as

well as the judge.

The final conflict is when his wife, Jocasta, commits suicide when she finds out she

married her husband. When Oedipus finds out he is her son and she killed herself, he blinds

himself and asks to be exiled. This shows man versus environment. Because of society, you can

not marry your mother and kill your father without being shamed by it. However, it can also be

man versus self because of how ashamed he is of himself. He can not stand what he has done,

and he wants to live in regret for the rest of his life. “Though I cannot behold you, I must weep

In thinking of the evil days to come, The slights and wrongs that men will put upon you.

Where’er ye go to feast or festival, No merrymaking will it prove for you” (Oedipus Rex) After

the gruesome scene where Oedipus blinds himself, he speaks to his two daughters, Antigone and

Ismene before leaving Thebes. This quote shows his caring nature and the love for his daughters

even though he knows they are born from incest. He’s reflecting from his own conflicts he has

and he’s tortured by the fact that his daughters will have to go through many challenges because

of their fate, and he knows there is nothing anyone can do but the gods.
 Sorey

Oedipus is an extremely conflicted character. No matter what he grew up to be as, a king

or a peasant, he was doomed from the start. All of his conflicts were caused by the fate he was

given by the gods, and was given no mercy. He did not handle his fate well, and therefore was

exiled and blinded himself.

 Sorey

Bibliography

Sophocles, and Roger D. Dawe. Oedipus Rex. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2010.