Prophecy In Oedipus The King

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When you think of a king you will typically think of a wealthy ruler who owns an amazing city and is either beloved by his fellow townspeople, or known as tyrant across the land.
Oedipus was a in the beloved category, I mean he was the man who defeated Sphinx, the monster who plagued Thebes and became king in doing so. But his city was not amazing. It was actually the opposite. The town, even after Oedipus defeated Sphinx, was still plagued with misfortune. The book Oedipus the King, was written by a man named Sophocles. In this book, Oedipus solves the impossible riddle by Sphinx, and becomes kings. But by doing so, and ancient prophecy is revealed and in result of Oedipus becoming king, the prophecy becomes true and lead the city into more grief. Throughout the story an argument …show more content…
In the book Oedipus was foretold that he would kill her father and marry his mother, and in doing so, it would bring disease, despair and unfortunate upon the city of Thebes. On page 10 Teiresias, the blind prophet says, “ I say you are the murderer of the King whose murder you seek” (415-415). Then Sophocles continues by having Teiresias say “He shall be proved father and brother both to his own children in his own house; to her that gave him birth, a son and husband both; a fellow sower in his father’s bed with the same father he murdered” (535-539). This was the prophecy Oedipus was damned to. He later tried everything he thought he could do to avoid this prophecy but in the end, his prophecy came true. This shows that hubris, also known as pride had nothing to do with it. Just as prophecy stated he ended up killing his father trying to run away from the prophecy, then solving the riddle made the people so happy they made him king, which continued him to marry the widowed queen, who in turn, turned out to be his mother. Prophecy is just something you can escape, but if you still don’t believe in prophecy here’s another

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