In the play Oedipus Rex Oedipus is the King of Thebes. As the king, he is asked by the people of the city lift the curse of the plague that has stricken them. In order for the curse to be lifted, Oedipus has to exile them man who killed the former king, King Laius. Throughout the story Oedipus relentlessly tries to find out who the killer was. The Climax of the story is when Oedipus was informed that he was the assassin of King Laius. It was also discovered that King Laius was Oedipus’s father and was married to Oedipus’s current wife Jocasta. Upon finding out this news, Jocasta was driven to the point suicide. The sight of Jocasta dead, Oedipus gauged his eyes out. After he had blinded himself, Oedipus exiled himself from the city of Thebes in order to lift the curse and save the people from the plague.
In the story “The Widow of Ephesus” and the play Oedipus Rex, both the soldier and Oedipus selflessly saved others from suffering and death. The solider helped the widow by showing her there is more to life by saying “No, begin your life fresh. Shake off these woman’s scruples; enjoy the light while you can. Look at the corpse of your poor husband: doesn’t it tell you more eloquently than any words that you should live?” When the solider gave the widow food and wine he filled her weakened stomach the same way he filled her heart with love. Oedipus having not been able to bear to see his people suffer, any longer from pain and death finds who killer is himself and man of his word leaves the city
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Oedipus says: "Lost! Ah lost! At least it's blazing clear. Light of my days, go dark. I want to gaze no more. My birth all sprung revealed from those it never should, myself entwined with those I never could. And I the killer of those I never would" (67). It is at this point that Oedipus realizes everything: he is the adopted son of King Polybus; he is the true son of King Laius and Queen Jocasta; he killed his father, Laius; he married his mother, Jocasta; and Tiresias' prophesy was right in that he was the man he was looking for. When everything becomes so clear to Oedipus, he feels nothing but remorse. He must punish himself, and does so by gouging out his eyes with Jocasta's brooches. His monologue, brought about by his anagnorsis, foreshadows his self-inflicted…
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A. Even though Oedipus and his parents tried to change the prophecy, it all came true in the end anyway.…
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