Oedipus Sophocles Essay Oedipus the King is a tragic play about Oedipus's tragic discovery that he killed his father and married his mother. The story of Oedipus was well known to the Athenians. Oedipus is the embodiment of the perfect Athenian. He is confident, intelligent and strong-willed. Paradoxically, these are precisely the traits that determine his tragic discovery. Oedipus gained dominion over Thebes by answering the riddle of the Sphinx. Sophocles used the riddle of the sphinx as a metaphor for the 3 stages of Oedipus' life and further characterized him as a tragic man. The Sphinx posed the following riddle to all who came to gain dominion over Thebes: What is it that walks on 4 feet, 2 feet and 3 feet and has only one voice, when it walks on most feet it is the weakest? Oedipus answered Man correctly and became the king of Thebes. This riddle is a metaphor for the life of Oedipus. As a child man crawls on his hands and knees, these are the four feet referred to by the Sphinx. Even man is weaker when he is a child. He depends exclusively on others for his nourishment and well-being. Oedipus was the son of Jocasta and King Laius who was taken to the mountain by a shepherd to be killed, so the god Apollo's omen that Laius' son would kill him and lie with Jocasta would not come true. Oedipus was the weakest in his life at this point. If it had not been for the shepherd who had spared his life and given him to Polybus to resurrect him like his Oedipus, he would have died. Man walks on 2 feet when mature. This is a metaphor for Oedipus reaching adulthood and leaving Corinth to escape the oracle. Oedipus meets a group of travelers and kills them in a rage. Oedipus inadvertently killed his father. Oedipus then answers the riddle of the sphinx and becomes king of Thebes. Becoming king of Thebes he marries Jocasta, the queen of Thebes, and her mother. Many years later, after having children with Jocasta, a plague kills many of the inhabitants of Thebes. The gods tell Oedipus to find Laius' killer. He is very diligent in his investigation and eventually comes to the horrible truth that he himself is the killer. Jocasta kills herself at the horrible realization that she has lain with her son and Oedipus gouges out his own eyes upon finally seeing the truth. This satisfies the final part of the Sphinx puzzle as Oedipus will have to walk with a cane for the rest of his life due to his blindness, this will give him the 3 feet that man walks with at the end of his years. Oedipus used his intellect and diligence to answer the riddle of the Sphinx. Many of the most intelligent young men in Thebes were killed trying to answer the riddle, but Oedipus proved his intelligence superior to theirs. Oedipus uses the same intelligence and perseverance to find Laius' murderer. He does not give up the search even when Jocasta warns him to stop and leave the matter unsolved. He calls the shepherd and interrogates him until he discovers the horrible truth that he is the murderer. Oedipus' intelligence was ultimately his flaw. Furthermore, if Oedipus had not been so courageous, he would never have dared to answer the riddle of the Sphinx. So even if he had killed his father, he would never have become king of Thebes and would never have slept with his mother. Furthermore, if Oedipus had had the courage but not the intelligence, Spinx would have killed him for having answered the riddle incorrectly. Sophocles used this to characterize Oedipus as a tragic man as his tragic discovery occurred not because of an evil act or evil trait but because of the person he was. The traits of Oedipus that gave him wealth and power ultimately led to his tragic end. Furthermore, the god Apollo had not predestined Oedipus to kill his father.