Oedipus Rex Critical Lens

489 Words2 Pages
Ignorance is bliss. People tend to agree to turn their cheeks on difficult subjects. Knowledge can make life harder. In the play, Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Oedipus and Jocasta uncover truths about themselves. Even though the truth is blatant, they choose to ignore it, because coming to terms with the truth would be too hard. People are blind to what they don’t want to see. Tiresias informs Oedipus that he was the one that killed Laius. Oedipus is enraged and tells Jocasta that a prophet told him that he was the murderer. She tells him not to believe in those things because she was given a prophecy and it ended up being false. Her child was supposed to kill Laius, which Jocasta was certain didn’t happen because he was murdered by brigands. Jocasta goes on about how Laius was killed where three highways meet. Oedipus starts to worry because he had killed someone in that same spot. Jocasta reminds him that there were multiple men at the scene of the murder, so it couldn’t have been him. Oedipus, clearly not wanting to believe what he did, agrees with her, both avoiding the obvious truth.…show more content…
Oedipus tells the story of him going to the oracle. He learns that his fate is to kill his father and marry and have kids with his mother. Clearly not wanting this to happen he leaves the city of Corinth. Jocasta and Oedipus both know each other’s prophecies and should start drawing conclusions. Their prophecies are both very unorthodox. Having the exact same prophecy as each other should have been a red flag, especially considering how bizarre they both were. The royal couple doesn't question their identical fates at all, instead they overlook this obvious clue to their true
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