Oedipus the King Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Oedipus the King - Essay Example Oedipus is a strong personality, indeed. He represents a kind of compassionate and careful, fair but strict leader. He is characterized by swiftness of thought and action and frankness. He possesses all the features any audience would like their leader to possess. Oedipus expresses his sincere concern of the health and well-being of his people: â€Å"Explain your mood and purport. Is it dread /Of ill that moves you or a boon ye crave?/ My zeal in your behalf ye cannot doubt/ Ruthless indeed were I and obdurate/ If such petitioners as you I spurned† (11-15). Being a thoughtful ruler and a person of action, Oedipus had sent Creon, his right hand, to the oracle even before priest came to him. As Creon returns, Oedipus insists on his reporting the oracle’s answer in front of all the people: â€Å"Speak before all; the burden that I bear/ Is more for these my subjects than myself† (100-101). Learning that it is necessary to punish the murderer of Laius, staying in The bes, Oedipus behaves as a fair, strict but kind ruler. He promises that the murderer will only be exiled from the city, his life being left to him. Oedipus promises that the same punishment will befall on people close to him. At the same time, from the very first lines Sophocles reveals the flaw that is leading Oedipus to his tragedy. This is pride. Entering, Oedipus declares: â€Å"am hither come, myself, I Oedipus, your world-renowned king† (7-8). At the beginning of the second scene Oedipus conveys his belief that he can replace gods. As he enters and hears the chorus’s prayer to gods to save Thebes, Oedipus says: â€Å"Ye pray; tis well, but would ye hear my words/ And heed them and apply the remedy,/Ye might perchance find comfort and relief† (218-210). This pride causes Oedipus’s blindness, leading him to his downfall. Obviously, it was his self-pride, which guided him earlier as he left the home of his foster parents and set off trying to deceive his