Oedipus The King :: Oedipus Rex, Sophocles

Oedipus The King Did the prophecy cause his destiny?Undoubtedly there has been a tremendous amount of speculation and dissection of this gambol by countless people throughout the ages. I can only draw my declare conclusions as to what Sophocles intended the meaning of his play to be. The drama include a number of horrific and unthinkable moral and ethical dilemas, but I believe that was what made the play so interesting and that is exactly the flair Sophocles intended it to be. The play was obviously meant to entertain and portray the authors own insight. The underlying theme to the play is that no man should know his own destiny, it will become his undoing. This knowledge of things to come was presented to twain Laius and Oedipus in the form of prophecies well in advance of it coming to be. The prophecies told of things that were so morally disturbing that they both aggressively did everything in their power to try and stop them from coming original. The story begins with Oedi pus at the height of power as King of Thebes. His kingdom has encountered rough multiplication and he has sent his nobleman Creon to seek help from the god Apollo to restore his land. Creon tells Oedipus that he must find the murderer of the previous King Laius and by decision this man and banishing him, his land will be restored. The murder occurred some time ago and King Oedipus sends for the seer Theiresias with his powers of prophecy to aid in the search for the murderer. Sophocles vigorously projects his feelings on wisdom and knowledge through Teirsias when he says Alas, how terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the man thats wise(23) Teirsias knows that this terrible prophecy has already been set into motion and the damage has already been done. There is really no point in telling it to Oedipus because it will only cause more stultification than good. Oedipus provokes Teirsias into telling him the prophecy, tell you, king, this man, this murderer-he is here. In na me he is a stranger among citizens but soon he will be shown to be a citizen true native Theban, and hell have no joy of the discovery blindness for sight and beggary for riches his exchange, he shall go journeying to a unknown country tapping his way befor him with a stick.