The Outbreak Of Shakespeare s Oedipus The King

Justin Prine Professor Messerschmidt Lit1000 8 October 2014 The Outbreak of Plague in Thebes During the course of Oedipus The King, Oedipus sets off on a journey to free himself from a fate that he just can not stand the thought of. Along the journey Oedipus comes upon the city of Thebes. This city has just had their king (Laius) killed and now Creon is under control of the city. Oedipus is given the thrown after he helped free the city from a sphinx that has been been guarding anyone that plans on going in and out of the city. Oedipus is seen to be a hero because no one could solve the riddle that would get rid of the sphinx until he arrived at the city. As Oedipus enters the city he starts to realize the major plague and disease in†¦show more content†¦As we all know after achieving the thrown in Thebes Oedipus marries his mother (Jocasta) and has kids with her. This so called link between plague and sexuality is definitely shown here because there is incest in the family even though it is not realized. Looking at this play from a western point of view we could easily determine that the incest that is going on has caused this plague. One of the simplest ways of determining why this plague has struck Thebes is the fact that it has been caused by the gods. The possible reason that the gods are causing this plague to break out is because Oedipus has tried to escape his fate that he will kill his father an marry his mother. The fact that Oedipus is trying to defeat what the gods have planned would be highly insulting to the gods and they want his to be punished in the form of plague. Once Oedipus reaches out to the gods by sending his brother-in-law, Creon, to Delphi he finally realizes that he has to bring the previous king s death to justice. So far in the play Oedipus still thinks that he has beat the gods and avoided his fate. This arrogance could possibly have angered the gods causing the many bad things to come to Oedipus s city. By trying to defeat the fate that the gods have given him he has in turn hurt the whole city. Now keep in mind Oedipus does not realize that he is the reason for the plague but nevertheless is still responsible for it. Sophocles has definitely created a link between